Doomed to Repeat
by Fiachra Ochiern
Summary: One year after Jiraiya's death, Naruto is no longer the ninja he once was. Faced with the chance to change everything that went wrong, can Naruto rise above the strength of his enemies, the suspicions of his friends, and most of all his own weaknesses?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Doomed to Repeat

**Author:** Fiachra Ochiern

**Summary:** One year after Jiraiya's death, Konoha has fallen and Uzumaki Naruto is no longer the knuckleheaded, hyperactive, surprising ninja he once was. Given the sudden chance to fix everything he thinks went wrong, can he rise above the strengths of his enemies, the suspicions of his friends, and most of all his own weaknesses? Timetravel

**Rated:** T (PG-13), for violence and some swearing.

**Disclaimer:** All characters, plot lines, and jutsus of Naruto© belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I just wanted to write a story.

**Warning:** This story contains spoilers through manga chapter 412.

* * *

The boy looked more like a man with his head down and his back to the sun. Maybe it was the way his short, spiky hair—the color of a burning sunset—cast a shadow over his eyes. Or the way he held his shoulders, as if he was carrying something much heavier than the small canvas pack slung over one shoulder. He wore a simple pair of black pants and a red _gi _that was reminiscent of a rejected samurai without a sword. His feet were clad in cheap zori, and black arm warmers wrapped around his arms from his wrists to his elbows. All in all, the male figure looked a little worse for wear.

The boy was walking down a worn dirt road westward, towards Suna. He wasn't really sure why. He had made a promise to avoid that place the last time he had been there, despite the fact that the Kazekage had given him express permission to find refuge within the Hidden Village. But, Gaara had known better than any of the others that Akatsuki would look for him anywhere. So, the boy had promised to stay away. And he never went back on his word.

A sudden crash from the road ahead of him made the redhead snap his head up, almost violently. Two men in matching half cloaks blocked the road while the redhead paused calmly and waited.

"Give us the pack, boy," one of the men demanded.

"You're robbing me?" the redhead muttered, more to himself than to his sudden companions. Bright blue eyes lit up with barely-concealed amusement. "Trust me, I don't have anything you're interested in."

The tone was a friendly kind of teasing, as if he and the robbers had established a strong enough rapport to give each other a good ribbing. But, the boy on the road held his arms slightly away from his sides and his legs bent at the knees, betraying years of training that had taught his muscles the act of deliberately choosing fight over flight. Privately, the traveler wondered if his pack carried any money at all. Still, he wasn't about to give it up. What few contents it carried were necessary to his survival.

"For your own good, kid," the shorter robber sneered at the boy. "Just hand over what ya got, and you won't get hurt."

The boy in the middle of the road let out a soft scoff and slid his left foot backwards slightly, sinking into a basic taijutsu starting form. The robbers weren't intimidated. Many travelers had at least some basic fighting skills. It was becoming a necessity with all the nuke-nin running around since the fall of one of the strongest shinobi villages. Hi no Kuri had become more and more lawless in the past year.

"C'mon, Niiro!" the taller man yelled confidently. He dashed forward, holding a plain kunai in one hand as he ran.

The boy on the road smiled. The men were underestimating him. He could already see their movements clearly, the way their weight shifted each time they took a step. They were chuunin level at best. Nothing he needed to worry about. He ducked under the swing of the kunai and knocked the taller man across the back with his bare fist, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Ichiro!" his companion, Niiro, called.

The would-be victim turned up one half of his mouth into an amused smile. This was going to be easier than he thought.

"Bastard!" Enraged, Niiro let a kunai fly towards the one responsible for his partner's current state.

The kunai sailed towards the watching and waiting boy as Ichiro scrambled out of the way. The boy seemed unconcerned as the weapon neared him. He raised one hand and prepared to bat the kunai away before he saw the dark writing wrapped around the handle of the kunai. Eyes widening, the boy switched tactics abruptly. He ran through a series of hand seals, ending by slamming both palms into the packed earth of the well-traveled road. A wall of earth, almost three feet thick, shot out of the ground between the boy and the incoming weapon. The kunai landed in the sudden shield with a loud _thunk_, and all activity paused for the space of one breath.

Then the exploding tag attached to the kunai went off, shattering the earthen wall into bits and dust. Ichiro and Katsu stood together in the middle of the road and watched a slight breeze shift the light brown cloud of dust off the road. As the dust cleared, they saw their redheaded victim standing stock still where he had been. The ruined jutsu was at his feet, and his right side was slightly singed. He raised his head and stared at his attackers with eyes the color of blood, knifed down the center with animalistic pupils. His canines were somehow longer and peered beneath his upper lip to give him the appearance of fangs.

"That hurt, yarou," the boy grumbled in a flat voice that didn't match his fiery eyes.

Niiro bared his teeth at the idiot who refused to die when he was supposed to.

"I'll show you hurt!" yelled Niiro. He pulled another kunai and rushed forward. Ichiro held back slightly, his wide eyes taking in the strange change in the boy's appearance.

As his enemy advanced, the boy's hand dove into the small pack that he carried and withdrew a simple scroll. With a quick flip in the air, the scroll landed on the ground, opened to reveal a dark circle of writing surrounding a single kanji. A small nip on the boy's thumb drew enough blood to smear over the paper, running a red line through the black ink. Quickly, as if it were alive, the inked circle spread out from the paper to encompass the boy kneeling on the ground as well as the charging nin.

"Brother, don't!" Ichiro jerked his companion away from the dark array on the ground. "You know who that is?"

The dark-haired Niiro frowned at his friend briefly before staring at their victim, like he was trying to place him.

"That's Konoha's missing nin," snapped Ichiro, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Niiro jumped back suddenly, as if the name alone could inflict a fatality. The boy on the road ground his teeth together briefly and rolled up his unused scroll. Their fear could be useful, but that particular piece of information was something he had been trying to hide for the past year.

"You must have me confused with someone else," the shinobi once known as Uzumaki Naruto declared calmly. "My name is Kaeru."

Kaeru brought his hands together in front of his chin in a simple cross symbol. With barely a mutter, there were suddenly two redheaded shinobi in the road where one stood previously.

"You wanna kill me?" one of the identical figures demanded. "I hear Danzo's offering a fat reward by now."

The two men facing him didn't charge, but they didn't back down, either. Kaeru gritted his teeth behind a disappointed pout. Seemed as if these guys would be harder to get rid of than he initially thought. Which left the initiative to him. Not that he minded. He had never been the patient type. The pout on his lips slowly turned into a confident smile as Kaeru and his clone charged.

Niiro's eyes followed the clone as Ichiro focused on the original body, both ready for one-on-one combat. Too bad they weren't dealing with a one-on-one kinda guy. Kaeru stopped short of the two robbers and planted his feet. The clone jumped up, stepping on the redhead's back and launching himself into the air. At the peak of his leap, the flying ninja brought his fingers together and split suddenly into two with a mere puff of smoke. The two figures sailed downward towards Niiro, while the boy on the ground quickly dropped and swept one leg towards Ichiro's feet as the older robber stared up at the display of midair ninjutsu.

Ichiro was lucky enough to regain his composure just in time to see Kaeru's leg and jump out of the way. Niiro raised one hand to catch a descending punch, but he missed the heel that slammed into his shoulder, sending him to his knees.

"Brother!" Ichiro shouted around Kaeru. One of the clones chopped the back of his opponent's neck to send Niiro into a quick coma. At least, that was the intention. Kaeru didn't really plan on an avenging brother.

Ichiro pulled out a katana from his belt. It was short, about the length of the standard blades that ANBU always carried around. Rage-filled eyes glared at Kaeru, and he seriously considered making a few more clones just for insurance. Kaeru brought his hands up and opened his mouth to call out his favored jutsu again, but he was forced to duck before he could utter the words. As the blade sailed over his head, Kaeru received a sudden memory of stabbing. One of his clones had just been dispelled on Ichiro's backswing. Great, now he was facing a relatively good swordsman instead of just a robber with some ninja skills. Perfect.

Kaeru fell into a crouch, one knee touching the ground as he tensed, ready to spring back into action. Suddenly, a sharp pain penetrated his abdomen, beginning at the center of his navel and spreading to encase him like wildfire. Kaeru arched his back so sharply that he thought his spine was about to snap. He barely registered his last clone dispelling, the pain in his stomach was too strong for him to think.

Then, he registered a second type of pain. He had just been stabbed. It was a strange feeling, the metal of a blade still buried in his back, warming itself with his blood. Dazed, he turned his head to glance behind him. The taller of his opponents, Ichiro, was staring at him with wide eyes, still holding the hilt of his katana. Kaeru must have made a weird picture, fighting splendidly one minute and then doubled over in pain the next. But Ichiro's wide eyes weren't triumphant or confused. The look in his eyes was pure and utter terror.

"What the hell are you!" Ichiro dropped his sword and turned his back on his victim. Leaving the money, the pack, and the wounded boy behind, he grabbed his brother's body and scrambled back into the forest.

A small part of Kaeru's mind came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be robbed that day, but honestly, he had other things to worry about at the moment. For instance, why did his stomach feel like it was on fire, like his intestines would burn their way through his abdomen any moment? Kaeru glanced down at his body and immediately saw the reason. He was covered in a thin layer of visible chakra, the same flaming color as his hair. He raised one hand to open his _gi_. A dark symbol on his stomach was now burning red as it spread to encompass his entire torso. A crimson pool was forming beneath his knees, and he wondered if he should be grateful. At least this way he would die without any of the damn Akatsuki getting his demon.

**"I will **_**not **_**die!"**

The sudden declaration resounded through the dying boy's skull, letting him know that the voice originated from a place he thought had been silenced long ago.

"Stupid fox," muttered Kaeru. "We die when I run out of blood. You can't change that."

However, despite the boy's accepting statement, the angry chakra continued to surround him, enveloping him in a fiery embrace that was filled with sweet pain. It was getting harder to draw breath into his lungs, and his stomach was currently trying to force its way up his esophagus and out of his mouth. He fell onto his hands and knees as his vision began to fade. Strangely, though, instead of going black, the world turned red.

**"I refuse to die!"**

The world exploded into flame as the boy who called himself Kaeru died. He could not see, but a red light bled through his closed eyelids. He could not breathe, and yet he was screaming against the pain. He could not hear anything above the roar of the inferno that surrounded him. His body was being torn apart; he could feel his muscles separating from his tendons. Suddenly, silence and darkness reigned. Kaeru stopped breathing and let himself fall. He never felt the soft patch of grass, instead of the packed earth of a road, that his body landed on.

* * *

AN: Hey, look. I wrote a fanfic. Honestly, I'm new to , and this is technically my first story (even though I've been writing for a good number of years). I hope to update at least every other week, if not sooner, and if I completely lose track of time, please don't yell at me. I get busy, especially with school starting.

That said, I welcome comments and reviews (hint, hint). And don't worry. If this chapter is confusing, I hope to clear things up in the following one.

Sincerely, Fia


	2. Chapter 2

Inuzuka Hana usually was not assigned missions with shinobi outside her own family or her team. She worked best within her pack, and she preferred caring for her dogs when they needed her most. But the Hokage had needed a tracker, and Hana was available. The scroll had been easy to find, even if Hana hadn't cared for her temporary team: a couple of chuunin who seemed very interested in trying to start a conversation about mating habits of her dogs and if Inunukas followed their animal companions in _every _kind of behavior. Idiots.

Running through the trees beside her, Shiro let out a sudden growl, a tense declaration of something nearby.

"Shiro's found something!" Hana suddenly announced to her teammates. "Something bloody."

It was surprising that she hadn't noticed it before. The scent of blood rose up from the floor of the forest, noticeable even at the high speed they were traveling. But the scent was mixed with several others; the most prominent were fire and burned flesh. The familiar scents of a battle.

"I see it!" the team leader, Izumo, affirmed quickly. He let himself fall from the tree branches and landed next to a male figure sprawled onto the ground. The figure stood out amidst the dirt and underbrush with black pants and some kind of red shirt. His hair was an unusually vibrant red that almost matched his torn and dirty top.

Hana leapt from the tree she was perched in and landed lightly on the ground beside the still figure. He looked like a teenager, not much older than any of them, and he smelled strongly of blood, fire, dirt, and sweat. And yet, beneath all these familiar scents, there was something strange that Hana couldn't place. Something malevolent.

"Hey, kid." Izumo shook the kid's left shoulder lightly. "You okay?"

The boy's right arm was covered in first-degree burns, but the more interesting issue was the skin beneath the burns. It was covered with intricate tattoos that extended from his wrist to his elbow. Hana reached over the body and peeled back the black cloth on the boy's other arm, not entirely surprised when she saw a matching design beneath the arm warmer. Even his palms bore the scrawled stain of ink.

"Hey, I found a backpack," called the other chuunin.

Hana raised her head to look at him. Kotetsu held a small canvas bag pulled shut with a simple drawstring. As far as she knew, it wasn't fancy or sturdy enough to be standard issue for a shinobi. And the boy didn't have a hi-ate or other identifying mark on him. Unless those tattoos hid something else.

"Looks like this guy was robbed," Kotetsu noted as he rifled through the pack. He withdrew a piece of cloth and quickly threw it back. "There's nothing in here."

A sudden groan from the ground caused him to drop the pack guiltily. Hana let out an undignified snort. And he called himself shinobi. But she quickly turned her attention to the source of the groan: the boy on the forest floor, who was apparently only half-dead instead of all-dead.

"Hey, can you tell us your name?" Izumo leaned over the boy intentionally.

"Where're you from?" interjected Hana. She still wanted to know if the boy was a threat.

Dry lips parted and wheezed in a short breath.

"Uzu . . ." muttered the boy without opening his eyes. His teeth came together suddenly in a pained groan, cutting off whatever he was going to say next, and he fell back into unconsciousness.

"Uzu?" Hana repeated. "Whirlpool?" She looked up to Izumo with a frown. "I thought it was destroyed."

There had been rumors of a civil war within Mist several years ago. The Village Hidden in Whirlpool was supposedly one of the casualties, but no one in Konoha really knew for sure. Whirlpool had always been a secluded place, as far as Hana knew.

"Looks more like _he _was destroyed." Kotetsu took a step closer and craned his neck slightly to look over the body on the ground.

"Well, let's get him back to Konoha," declared Izumo, leaning back on his knees.

"Is that wise?" Hana wished she could just object and be done with it. But she wasn't the leader of this team, Izumo was. And he was already shifting the boy's body to drape over his back for easy carrying.

"What's he gonna do?" protested the chuunin. "He doesn't even have the strength to stay awake."

"He smells bad." The declaration was blunt and rushed, a last attempt to say what was really bothering her.

However, Izumo and Kotetsu didn't pick up on her anxiety. They frowned at one another, Izumo carrying the boy and the other carrying the luggage. Izumo finally turned back to Hana with an indulgent look, like a teacher patiently listening to a child's excuse.

"Bad?" he repeated.

"I don't know how to explain it," snapped Hana. "But Shirois getting a bad feeling from that guy. Like there's something wrong about him."

"Couldn't that be from the people that attacked him?" Kotetsu suggested helpfully.

Hana shook her head vigorously.

"I can't detect any foreign scents in the area. And there hasn't been any rain to wash the scents away," she pointed out. "Plus, his wounds are too recent. His skin is still hot from being burned. Wouldn't we have seen any attackers leaving the scene?"

Izumo frowned and glanced over his shoulder at his cargo.

"If he is a threat, it's better that we take him to Konoha where we can question him if we need to," declared the team leader. "If we leave him out here, it might come back to bite us."

Hana ran her tongue over her naturally sharp canines in silence. Izumo had a point. If the boy was a missing nin from Uzu or any other country, it might be better to hold him in Konoha rather than let him wander around Hi no Kure to exact revenge or create chaos or whatever his goal was.

"Fine," she muttered. "Let's go."

Izumo smiled again, and the two chuunin leaped into the trees again, speeding towards Konoha. From his position at Hana's side, Shiro let out a small whimper, followed by a rough growl: a mixture of his unease and his certainty that that boy wasn't entirely safe.

"I know." Hana rested one hand in the dog's thick fur. "We'll tell Hokage-sama when we get back, no matter what Izumo thinks."

* * *

Blue eyes opened to a mass of white, and the first thought that went through his mind was a surprised realization that he wasn't dead. The steady beeping of the heart monitor beside him was proof of that if nothing else. With a deep breath, Kaeru used his elbows to push himself into a sitting position.

The room he occupied seemed like a generic hospital room, and he wondered who had picked him up. His stomach was swathed in bandages. As he sat up, he could feel the tight, new skin that formed the scar tissue across the stab in his back. Well, at least his new captors had been nice enough to heal him before he set off on the road. Where had he been going again? Not Suna. Maybe Tea. Not many people from Konoha were well-known in Tea. Shaking his head, Kaeru glanced around the room again. He didn't see any sign of his small bag—he'd have to find that soon, his seals were starting to itch. His eyes suddenly widened as realization flooded his mind.

Kaeru pulled back the thin sheet that covered him and studied his body clinically. He was dressed in light hospital pajamas, and his arms were rid of their coverings, which left the complex designs on his forearms exposed for the world to see. That wasn't good. He could be identified by those markings more than anything else. He couldn't see anything on his stomach other than bandages, and for a moment Kaeru considered ripping them off just so he could check the skin underneath for something that only he could understand. But the sound of a door opening made Kaeru fix his attention on the room instead.

Entering the room was a young woman, probably a little older than Kaeru himself. She was dressed as a nurse; he didn't think she was old enough to be a doctor or a med-nin. After closing the door behind her, the brown-haired nurse looked up and saw Kaeru sitting up in his bed, his hands beneath the covers.

"Oh, you're up." She sounded slightly surprised, as if he had been expected to remain at death's door a while longer. Well, having a demon in one's stomach had to count for _something _occasionally.

"Hi," greeted Kaeru nervously, mostly because he wasn't sure what else to do.

He kept his arms tucked beneath the sheet for a moment, wanting to keep his secrets to himself before realizing that any doctor worth his salt would have removed his clothes for a full view of any wounds he might have had. As a result, they already knew about his markings. Kaeru hesitantly slipped his arms out and settled them on top of his lap, staring at his hands instead of at the nurse.

"Well, that's a good sign," she was quick to reassure him brightly. "You must be more hardy than we thought."

Kaeru chuckled. "Hardy" had never been a word particularly associated with him. Pig-headed, maybe. Stubborn, definitely.

"Um," he began again, "could you tell me where—"

His question stopped short when the door opened again, this time to reveal a young man with dark hair hanging in front of his face, pinned down by the hi-ate he had wrapped around his head. In the center of the metal band was a spiral symbol with a sharp triangle on one side. Oblivious to Kaeru's shocked staring, the young man fixed his eyes on the bed-ridden boy and smiled widely.

"Hey," he greeted. "We were worried you're weren't gonna wake up for the next week. You looked pretty bad when we found you."

Kaeru's wide eyes remained fixed on the man's hi-ate. Konoha. He was back in Konoha, after all this time trying to escape from the hell it had become. But why was the man wearing a Leaf headband? Danzo had eradicated those after he had taken over; his personal ROOT were the new protectors of Konoha, and ROOT never wore identification. That was the only reason the Rookies and the rest of the exiles were able to keep their hi-ate.

"What do you want with me?" Kaeru croaked out, wishing his throat wasn't so dry.

"I just wanted to check on you." The shinobi of the Leaf frowned slightly at Kaeru's hostility.

"Izumo-san," the nurse called. "Taro-sensei mentioned that Hokage-sama should be informed of his condition once he woke up."

Kaeru nearly snapped his vertebrae trying to turn his head to look at the nurse instead. _Hokage?_ There wasn't a Hokage anymore. Not since Danzo had killed Tsunade in the coup that destroyed half of Konoha. What the hell were these people trying to pull?

A sudden spasm of pain racked through Kaeru's midsection, beginning near his spine and traveling to his navel, searing into his skin with a familiar burn that he had come to associate with a grin of sharp teeth and red chakra. Kaeru clutched at his stomach with one hand, digging his fingers into the fabric that concealed his bandages, and grit his teeth to hold back the cry of pain that forced itself up his throat and battered against the back of his teeth. A wave of nausea followed the stifled cry, and Kaeru leaned over the side of his bed.

The nurse caught his movements just quick enough to hold up a shallow bowl so that Kaeru wouldn't muck the floor with the meager contents of his stomach. When he was finished, Kaeru gripped the edge of the bed and raised his eyes in one sweeping glance, trying to observe as much as he could without being obvious. The shinobi, Izumo, was in the midst of a grimace after watching the younger boy throw up in front of a pretty girl. Said girl was going about her duty, placing the messy bowl on a tray, hopefully to be removed as soon as possible. Then, his eyes caught a window at the foot of his bed. Beyond the buildings and rooftops of Konoha, Kaeru could just see the beginnings of Hokage Mountain, and the solemn stone gazes of Sandaime and Yondaime.

Hokage Mountain had faces on it. Four faces. Half that mountain had been destroyed the last time Kaeru had seen it, and he doubted that Danzo would be in any hurry to remake the faces of a position he put no trust in. How could this be happening? _What _was happening? Kaeru reviewed quickly. He had been attacked by those two robbers. The fight itself had been short; he didn't even need to use his scroll—

"We found a small backpack beside you," Izumo was talking again, not that Kaeru paid much attention. "There wasn't any money in it. Were you robbed?"

Kaeru's eyes widened in realization. He had gotten out his time-freeze scroll. It had been one of the fuuin jutsus he was working on perfecting: a seal that would cause whoever was caught inside it to freeze in time. The results were similar to Shikamaru's Kagemange no Jutsu, but Kaeru's victims were _truly _frozen, unable to move or think beyond the moment the seal was activated. Kaeru hadn't activated the scroll, but he still remembered the voice that refused to die without drastic actions. And now his seals were paining him like they usually did after a release. The combination of the demon's chakra with the time-freeze seal . . .

"Shit." Kaeru's head sank back against his pillow tiredly. Was what he was considering even _possible_? Could the seal have _transported _him backwards in time, before everything went to hell?

"I'm sure we can get you back on your feet in no time." Izumo gave him a reassuring smile, taking a completely different reasoning for Kaeru's swearing.

"I'll tell Taro-sensei you're awake," announced the nurse. She took the soiled bowl carefully in both hands and hurried out of the room, leaving Kaeru alone with the ghost of Konoha in the form of a ninja named Izumo.

"Was—" Kaeru stopped short and swallowed hard to clean the bile out of his mouth. "When you found me, was there anyone else?"

Izumo cautiously shook his head.

"Were you traveling with someone?" the dark-haired nin asked.

Kaeru let out a dry chuckle.

"Thought I mighta taken one of those bastards with me," he explained.

If they had been inside the seal, maybe it was possible. But Kaeru had heard them running away even if he hadn't seen them. Well, it was probably a good thing he hadn't brought a souvenir from his time. _His _time? What time was he in, anyway? Namikaze Minato had already been named Yondaime, but had the Kyuubi attacked yet? How was he even supposed to know?

"Well," Izumo shrugged and smiled once again, "have a speedy recovery . . ."

"Thanks," Kaeru muttered shorted, fully aware that Izumo was expecting him to provide a name. Kaeru closed his eyes and forced himself to relax, hoping his feigned exhaustion would discourage the man.

Kaeru sighed when he heard the door to his room open then close and silence permeated the room. He lay in the hospital bed, his throat still sore from his own bile and his stomach still burning with the remnants of his poisoned chakra, and stared at the ceiling above him in wonder. If he was right—if he had really transported himself to a different time—then his time-space seals were even better than the Yondaime's had ever been.

Which would have been a lot more impressive if the entire thing hadn't been a damn fluke.

* * *

A/N: Good lord. When I started this thing, I was only planning on my chapters being about 1500 words long. My first chapter was just over 2000 and this one is nearly 3000. I must be crazy.

I'm not entirely happy with that last scene with Kaeru in the hospital. I feel like I rushed it a bit, but I didn't want him wallowing in his own self-pity and helplessness. I'm not good at writing emo. I'm much better at dialogue, must be why I like plays so much. And yes, the time-freeze seal is completely made up, and I have no idea if it would even work in the Narutoverse. Hopefully in the future I will be able to limit my references to jutsus that are familiar to the anime and/or manga.

At any rate, feel free to contact me via review: make mention of what I could do better, leave comments, questions, happy thoughts, lauding praises (I'll take those, too).

Sincerely,

Fia


	3. Chapter 3

The Hokage Tower was among the largest edifices in Konoha, containing the chambers for the Hokage as well as meeting places for the council, ANBU, and various other workers, all of whom reported to the Hokage as the final authority over the ninja of the village. The Fire Daimyo might have been the lord of the land, but the Hokage commanded its troops. So, as the aged med-nin walked the halls of the Hokage Tower, he could not help rehearsing his concerns before presenting them to the Hokage.

Takahashi Taro was getting along in years. He had lived through the Third Great Shinobi War and thought that he had seen the worst that shinobi could do to each other. He would never forget the smell of burnt flesh or the gaping wounds that he had treated in Konoha's hospital as Konoha's defenders trickled back into the village from their missions. But despite his experience as a med-nin, even through the War, he had never seen anything quite like the patient that he was currently puzzling over. Hence, his struggle to find the right words to explain his trepidation to Hokage-sama. All too soon, Taro found himself standing in front of the large wooden doors that would lead him into the Hokage's office. Taro took a deep breath and raised his hand, tapping the wood briskly with his knuckles. A friendly voice invited him in, and Taro entered the large office.

"Good morning, Taro-san." The grey-haired man behind the desk was smiling already, a pipe clenched comfortably between his teeth.

"Ah, morning, Hokage-sama," Taro returned the greeting humbly. He paused as he tried to remember the speech he had laid out before coming. He supposed it was a sign of his age that he was already forgetting things.

"You seem troubled," Sandaime noted honestly. "Is there something on your mind?"

"Yes." Taro nodded.

Sandaime did have a way of putting one at ease with his paternal nature. It was surprisingly easy to forget that he was considered the strongest ninja in Konoha.

"It concerns the boy that Izumo's team recently brought in," began the med-nin. "His wounds were severe when he was brought in, and yet he has healed at an alarming rate. At first we thought he had just been attacked and robbed while traveling, but . . ."

"Has he said something to make you suspect otherwise?" interjected the Hokage when Taro trailed off hesitantly.

"No, Hokage-sama." Taro quickly shook his head in denial. "In fact, he hasn't said very much at all the few times he has woken up. He seems very disoriented and a bit frightened, I think."

Izumo himself had described the boy's reaction when he awoke. Taro still had no idea what had caused the nausea, unless the patient had been allergic to some of the medication or antibiotics he was taking. But then, there had also been the quiet demand: _"What do you want with me?"_ In front of Taro, Sandaime simply sat attentively, a thin wisp of smoke traveling upwards from bowl of his pipe.

"All he was carrying was a small pack," continued Taro, "with a spare shirt, some basic first aid supplies, a few scrolls, an ink block, and two brushes. We haven't been able to open the scrolls; they seem sealed somehow."

That was a strange bit of information, according to Taro. In order to know anything about seals, the boy would have to be a shinobi. But there was no hitai-ate on him or in his pack.

"The only identification he has on him are the strange tattoos we found on his body," Taro finished with a frown. "If they _are _tattoos."

The markings on the boy's arms and stomach were by far the most bewildering feature of the patient. Taro had never seen any symbols like them, so he couldn't be sure they weren't a declaration of the boy's allegiance to a rogue shinobi organization or even a yakuza. But there was something else about them. Something that made Taro uneasy.

"I see," murmured the Hokage. He removed the stem of his pipe from between his lips and blew out a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke. His eyes stared unseeingly at the desk in front of him.

The quiet voice snapped Taro's attention back to the office he occupied.

"With your permission, Hokage-sama," Taro's voice grew determined and professional, "I would like to have a seal master look at him so that we may deem him a threat or not."

The old man raised his eyes to Taro and smiled as if they were discussing the state of the weather instead of a strange patient who could be a danger to the village.

"Certainly," he agreed. "I'll come myself this afternoon."

Taro's eyes widened in surprise and concern.

"Um, yourself, Hokage-sama?" he confirmed, just in case his old ears had heard the man wrong. However, the Hokage's amused smile made Taro doubt that the man was joking.

"Don't worry," chuckled the Hokage. "I'm not quite a dotard yet, Taro-san."

Taro nodded, somewhat reassured. It was foolish to be worrying, he told himself. The Hokage would surely have knowledge of the boy's symbols, and if he didn't, he would know what actions to take. Settling back in his chair, Sandaime tapped the ashes out of his pipe into a small tray on his desk as his face took on a far less jovial countenance.

"Inuzuka Hana was also worried about the young man," explained the Hokage. "She claimed that her ninken sensed something off about him." Sandaime looked back at Taro. "It would most likely be best to proceed with caution. Besides, I would like the opportunity to see these tattoos for myself."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Taro bowed slightly and turned to escort himself out. A measure of relief filled him at the prospect. Surely, the Hokage would know what to do.

* * *

_"Sakura-chan!"_

_A mass of red and pink, twisted horribly and broken. No, couldn't be broken. Someone as strong as her couldn't be so broken. _

_But she was._

_"Sakura-chan." Her name was spoken again, an almost-whisper this time, almost as broken as her body was._

_"Naruto."_

_The cool voice of logic, as he had always been. It had been him who pulled Naruto back after Jiraiya's death, and now he was trying to do so after hers. But this was different._

_"Naruto, we have to go."_

_They were still in danger. Akatsuki was after him and him alone, so Akatsuki had attacked, but why did _she _have to die? For him? He wasn't worth it. Why couldn't he have died when they first captured him?_

_"No," he whispered. "They're dead." His voice grew louder, fueled by pain and rage. "My team is dead. My _family_!"_

_Searing, red pain again pierced his stomach. He doubled over, resisted the urge to hurl. His arms were itching, the two forces within him conflicting against each other. He couldn't even fight like this, how the hell was he supposed to _live _now. They were looking at him, waiting for him, but he couldn't do a damn thing about it._

_"N-Naruto-kun."_

_A softer voice this time, hesitant and shy. Moon-pale eyes met his broken blue orbs and pleaded._

_"As long as w-we have p-p-people to p-protect, Konoha w-will be h-here and alive."_

_The words forced out of her mouth had once flowed freely from his. His declaration. His determination. His nindo._

_Tears fell freely. He didn't try to hold them back. She deserved them. She was Sakura-chan, and no one else could be that. She had wanted him to live after he was sure he was going to die. Didn't he owe her that much?_

_Teeth gritted, determination flaring once again. Where were the others? He had to make sure they were safe. Hand braced against knees, blood pulsing and face dripping, Uzumaki Naruto rose._

"Ugh," Kaeru groaned as he opened his eyes, confused at first. White room, pain in stomach, bandages, oh yeah, hospital.

He raised a hand to swipe at his eyes, brushing away the last remnants of sleep. The dream was a familiar one. The day that Sakura had died, Naruto became the sole survivor of Konoha's Team Seven. The team that had been Naruto's first family.

"Ah, it is good to see you awake."

A soft, friendly voice sounded from somewhere near the door. Kaeru's heart jumped within his chest as he sat up. He hated being in the hospital, it dulled his senses. The smell of antiseptic overpowered everything, and he hadn't even noticed the old man in the corner of the room. But he stared now.

"Easy, there." The old man in white robes stepped forward and held out one hand in a calming gesture. "No one intends to hurt you here."

"Sandaime?" Kaeru barely breathed. "Sandaime Hokage. I'm . . . in Konoha."

Right, he had screwed up. He blamed the fox. It was a lot easier to blame things going wrong on an ancient demon than think that he could have somehow prevented this. But the fact remained that he didn't know exactly _when _he was in Konoha. Yondaime's face on the mountain, but Sandaime wearing the Hokage robes . . .

"Yes." Sandaime smiled, oblivious to Kaeru's train of thought. "I'm afraid you have an old man at a disadvantage. I can't remember if we've met."

Kaeru's eyes snapped to the old man who had been his first example of a shinobi, of a Hokage, and he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"You look different than the mountain."

The Hokage looked amused at that response.

"Stone is not the best representation of one's face, I'm afraid." He paused, glancing over the figure in the hospital bed.

Kaeru noticed that the man didn't have his all-too-familiar pipe. They probably didn't let him smoke in the hospital. Kaeru missed the scent of smoke that he always associated with the man.

"Your name?" inquired the old man in the same kind voice.

"Kaeru." That had been his name for the past three months; he might as well keep it.

"Do you know what happened to you on the road?"

Kaeru looked away and frowned.

"They were trying to rob me," he answered without naming names. They probably would have succeeded, too. It's not like he was in any position to throw them off while trying to contain his evil. "Stupid—"

He stopped short, wondering where the Konoha shinobi had found him. Would there even be robbers where he had been? He wasn't that close to Konoha when he had been attacked, so maybe they carried him back. Kaeru sighed and covered his eyes with one hand. Maybe it would have been easier all-around if he had just pretended to have amnesia.

"I don't know," he finally finished. "I don't remember everything." It was a copout, but he couldn't do any better. It was a little late for amnesia, anyway.

"I understand you're from Whirlpool." The voice came from beyond Kaeru's curtained eyes. He sincerely hoped the slight tensing of his muscles wasn't visible.

Why did they think he was from Whirlpool? Did they recognize him? But he couldn't look too much like Uzumaki Naruto anymore. He lacked the markings of a jinchuuriki, and his hair was the wrong color. No, someone had been talking to him when he lay bleeding. He remembered a question: his name. What had he said? Uzumaki? Damn, had he been that stupid?

"Why were you on the road in the first place?" the Hokage asked.

Kaeru paused, his thoughts racing. What excuse could he possibly think up? He could be traveling, looking for a new place to live, so that he would be invited into Konoha. But that kind of excuse was flimsy. They might think he was a spy. But what other reason could someone have for traveling from Whirlpool to . . . Kaeru met the Hokage's gaze again, a sudden idea forming.

"I was . . . looking for someone," the redheaded boy answered carefully. "Someone in Konoha. Uzumaki Kushina."

Kakashi had told him about his parents after Konoha fell, abruptly and without much detail. Kaeru still thought that he had only done so because there was no one else left who knew about Uzumaki Kushina and Namikazi Minato. But it had been a small comfort to know that Yondaime hadn't picked him simply because he was unwanted and unloved, an orphan designated to carry the Kyuubi.

Meanwhile, his careful statement was having a strange affect on Sandaime. The man had frozen in his place, his dark eyes fixed sharply on Kaeru.

"How do you know her?" demanded the Hokage.

Kaeru sat up straighter, his eyes hopeful for the first time in he-didn't-know-how-long. Sandaime knew Kushina, which could mean that she was still alive. Kaeru knew that he hadn't had a mother when he was a kid, but there had to be _someone _taking care of him as a baby, right? Maybe his mom was alive.

"She's my cousin." The lie came out quick and easy, dismissed immediately in favor of more answers. "I'm looking for her. Do you know where she is?"

The Hokage sighed and let the tension seep from his worn body. Kaeru saw and wondered if he would hear once again that he was alone in the world.

"Well, you are still in the process of recovering," the Hokage noted simply.

Kaeru grit his teeth together to keep from swearing. It'd probably be a bad idea to swear at the Hokage, especially since he didn't have the reputation of Konoha's number one knuckle-headed, hyperactive, surprising ninja. He still didn't know if Kakashi had meant that as a compliment or insult.

Then, Kaeru saw Sandaime's eyes flicker to Kaeru's bare arms and the dark designs that still remained exposed. Impulsively, Kaeru grabbed at his right forearm with his left hand, as if that would be enough to hide the markings.

"Hey, you didn't— "

Kaeru stopped and caught his breath. Couldn't shout. Kaeru wasn't known for shouting in this Konoha.

"No one did anything to these, did they?" he asked nervously.

"Why wouldn't you want them to?" The Hokage frowned.

"They're seals," answered Kaeru honestly. "I hate having them. But they keep me alive." And he was supposed to stay alive. Although, this time-freeze-turned-transportation-thing was making things a bit more complicated than he liked. Would his seals still work?

"I see," was all the Hokage said, contemplatively.

Sandaime stared at Kaeru, at his worried and hopeful eyes, at his red hair, at the dark patterns on his arms, half covered by a desperate hand. Kaeru was careful not to flinch; that wouldn't win him any points for integrity. Finally, the Hokage straightened, apparently finished with his perusal.

"I will have someone escort you to my office tomorrow morning, Kaeru-san," Sandaime announced, once again smiling encouragingly. "Provided you are recovered enough, we can talk more at that time."

Kaeru simply nodded as the Hokage took his leave. When the door closed, Kaeru let his shoulders slump tiredly. There was a chance that his mother could be alive. He didn't even know what she looked like. But, now Sandaime had seen his markings and knew that they were seals. How was he going to explain what he was to a Konoha that already hated one jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune?

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat down behind his wide desk carefully while he pinched his pipe expertly between his thumb and first two fingers. The young man standing in the center of the room was obviously nervous but not so much in a frightened manner, like a shinobi who knew he was in enemy territory. Instead, the young redhead was stealing not-quite-subtle-enough glances around the office while still keeping his attention fixed on the Sandaime Hokage.

The young man had been released from the hospital and was dressed plainly in a long-sleeved dark shirt coupled with dark pants and zori. He carried his small canvas pack over one shoulder—as far as Sandaime knew, that small pack contained the only things the boy had left. He could almost be mistaken for an off-duty jounin. Sarutobi captured the end of his pipe between his teeth and sucked in a lungful of the sweet smoke. He had already sent for the one person in Konoha who could claim a connection with the new boy, but in the meantime there were still questions that needed asking.

"You said you were coming here from Whirlpool?" he inquired, his voice calm without any hint of interrogation.

"Yeah," the young man answered shortly, still looking around the room.

The elderly Hokage leaned back in his chair. The boy looked like a teenager, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old. And he did have some features of that spunky kunoichi that Minato had found. His hair was the same shade of bright red, and there was a look around his chin that reminded Sarutobi of Kushina. But as the young man's eyes came to rest on the portraits of former Hokages on a mantle, Sarutobi couldn't help but notice that those eyes—wide, observant, and piercingly blue—were something entirely different.

"No one's heard from that village in some time," was all the Hokage said.

Whirlpool had always been small and insignificant in the eyes of the Elemental Countries; its destruction by the Mizukage had passed by largely unnoticed. Sandaime was curious if the boy was aware of the state of his supposed homeland or if he had merely chosen the village for a cover story merely _because _of its triviality. The boy looked down, his eyes hooded, before meeting Sarutobi's kind gaze.

"For good reason," muttered Kushina's self-declared cousin. "My village is gone."

It was said matter-of-factly and quickly. One of the boy's hands rose to rest at the back of his neck.

"I've been . . . wandering around the Elemental Countries for a while," he explained slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. "I've been pretty much everywhere but Konoha. I . . . always avoided Konoha."

Sarutobi let a thin stream of smoke escape from his parted lips as he looked at the boy in front of him. His emotions were easy to read, a mixture of shame and nervousness. It could be that the boy was lying—and doing a very poor job of it—but his emotions could also be explained by the fact that he was currently explaining his situation to the leader of a village he had admittedly been avoiding.

"Any particular reason?" inquired Sandaime curiously.

The boy's face fell into a serious sadness that seemed too old for his young features.

"Kushina never said why she left Whirlpool to come here. Our family wasn't . . ." He paused and looked down again, avoiding the old man's eyes. "We weren't on good terms. But, I don't have anywhere left to go."

He looked up hopefully to the Hokage. Sarutobi hated this part of his job. He had been hoping to find something wrong with the young man's story. Some clue that would explain away the boy's presence or prove that there had been a mistake. But the boy looked so desperate for his answer that Sarutobi found it hard to believe that his expression was faked.

"I'm sorry." He nodded his head slowly, sadly. "Uzumaki Kushina died almost twelve years ago."

He watched as the boy's blue eyes slowly widened in shock.

"Twelve years . . . ?"

"Hey, O-jiji!"

A loud voice disrupted the dazed tension in the office as a blur of orange darted through the doors. Uzumaki Naruto burst into the office of the Hokage with his usual exuberance, his new hi-ate tied proudly across his forehead. The taller redhead spun in surprise and stared at the boy with the shocked look still firmly planted on his face.

"What's going on!" Naruto demanded, ignoring the Hokage's guest completely. "I have to get ready for tomorrow!"

The corners of Sarutobi's mouth lifted amusedly. Nothing, not even the recent realization of why everyone in Konoha was so cold to him, could keep Uzumaki Naruto down for long.

"Naruto, I called you here for something important." Sarutobi held his pipe in one hand as he stood up and walked slowly around the desk. Immediately, Naruto's eyes widened as he perked up.

"Really?" The boy's smile grew to stretch his marked cheeks to bursting. "Hey, hey, what is it, o-jiji!"

Sarutobi stood just behind the red-haired boy, who hadn't taken his wide eyes off the small, excited figure in front of him.

"We have a visitor to Konoha," Sandaime explained as he nodded towards his guest. "I wonder if you would let him stay with you."

"With me? Why?" Naruto's cry was indignant. "I'm a ninja now! I don't have time to baby-sit. Just make him get a hotel or something."

The teenager turned to Sandaime in a daze.

"He's . . ." He didn't seem to be able to form any further words as one of his hands gestured feebly to the angry boy in the center of the room. The Hokage just smiled.

"This is Uzumaki Naruto," he explained deliberately. "He's her son."

"What's going on?" shouted Naruto again. He jabbed one finger rudely at the stunned teenager. "Who the heck are you, anyway!"

"Kaeru," the boy answered abruptly. His eyes snapped to the young figure, blocking out everything else around him as he stepped forward. "Uzumaki Kaeru." He knelt down in front of the new genin, and two pairs of blue eyes met each other. "I knew your mother."

A single blink was all it took to change Naruto's face from indignant to surprised.

"Really?" Naruto murmured, all bravado gone. "You did?"

"Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted," Sarutobi suddenly announced. Two pairs of blue eyes looked to him as if just realizing that they weren't alone in the room. "Maybe tomorrow, you can come visit me, Kaeru-san, and we'll see how we can help you."

The boy named Uzumaki Kaeru nodded slowly, silently, and stood up. Uzumaki Naruto seemed to take on Kaeru's dazed look before a mixture of suspicion and curiosity twisted his lips into a strange frown as he stared at the taller Uzumaki. Still, Naruto led the other boy out of the Hokage tower, presumably toward the small, always-slightly-dirty apartment that he had lived in since the boy turned six and moved out of the Konoha orphanage.

Sarutobi turned to the window and spoke softly as soon as the two Uzumakis had left.

"Bring Hatake Kakashi here, and make sure he's not late," the Hokage ordered.

The masked ANBU hovering on the roof of the Hokage Tower disappeared without a word of assent, but Sarutobi was satisfied. As a Hokage, he knew the dangers of leaving a jinchuuriki in the hands of an unknown person, most likely someone with ninja training if not a ninja on a mission. But, he also knew that Naruto had no one. The boy looked up to Umino Iruka immensely, and the teacher had been a turning force in Naruto's ordeal the previous night. Naruto deserved to have someone who would look at him the way family was supposed to.

Besides, Kaeru had looked truly shocked when Sarutobi had announced that Kushina was dead. Perhaps he would find it easy to cling to a boy who nearly personified the lively kunoichi from Whirlpool. In the meantime, it would help to have someone as observant as Kakashi to watch over the boys, especially since Naruto was on the reluctant jounin's team.

* * *

A/N: I never knew reviews could be so much fun. Thanks to everyone who has responded to my stories, from the people who just said, "Cool. Update soon," to those who pointed out some flaws in my writings. You really help me improve. As such, I've made a few changes to chapter one, so hopefully it'll flow a bit better now.

A few notes about this chapter in particular first: Thank you to all who reviewed and told me Sarutobi's real name. It has since been changed. See, you guys do make a difference.

And finally, I hope that the differences between Kaeru and Uzumaki Naruto aren't too confusing. It'll be strange for a while because I don't want to explain everything all at once and neglect the story going on in Konoha, so you'll have to keep reading if you want the whole background story (thanks to me and my devious ways). But, you will get a large chunk of explanation in the next chapter, which shall hopefully be up next Saturday, barring any major disasters.

Sincerely,

Fia


	4. Chapter 4

The seventeen-year-old redhead was speechless. Fortunately, he was currently hiding his shock by studying his surroundings as closely as possible. He recognized some features of his old apartment, such as the potted plant in one corner that was slowly being nursed back to health. But other points of his memory were fuzzy. Not surprising, considering he had moved out of this place soon after he had returned to Konoha after his training trip with Jiraiya.

"Hey," the short blond behind him called out as he locked the door, "do you really know who my mom is?"

The older boy studied the younger one. Uzumaki Naruto was looking at Kaeru with barely-concealed hope. Kaeru remembered himself like this: wondering where _his _parents were, especially when all the other parents came to the Academy to pick up their kids. He looked into blue eyes that matched his exactly, and for the first time since Kakashi's death he was thankful for the change in his appearance.

"Uzumaki Kushina," Kaeru answered. Might as well stick with the lie he had already propagated. He didn't think it would take much to adapt it to his current situation. "She was my cousin. She died . . . in the Kyuubi attack."

Chalk up yet another reason to hate the damn fox. Like he had needed any more.

"Oh." Naruto looked down, falling silent for only a moment before his eyes turned once again to his newfound relative. "What about my father? Did you know him, too?"

This time there was no attempt at concealing anything; the boy was desperately hopeful. It was that look that decided Kaeru's answer more than anything.

"No." He couldn't say it. He had only learned the truth of his parentage after growing up knowing that the Yondaime was a great Hokage, probably the greatest that had ever lived. He didn't know if he would be okay with it if he hadn't learned by now the kind of sacrifice that a Hokage had to make. And it wasn't something he thought he could explain. Not until he had seen it firsthand.

Not to mention the extenuating circumstances about bijuu, Akatsuki, and Uchiha that _no one _in Konoha was supposed to know about, much less him.

But if the tense look on the short blond's face was any indication, Kaeru would not be let off without giving some kind of explanation. Time to lie through his teeth again.

"Kushina left Whirlpool to come to Konoha." The redhead slipped the small pack from one shoulder as he turned away from the young boy. "I never heard from her again."

It was surprisingly easy to put on the air of a disgruntled guy who didn't want to talk about his family. Must've been all that time with Sasuke.

"So, where were you?" demanded Naruto. "Living under a rock? Why didn't you come here sooner?" His features were marred into an angry frown, but his sky-blue eyes tore a sad accusation into Kaeru. _Why didn't you come to _me _sooner?_

The redhead drew in a breath. Maybe he should've practiced his lying skills before heading out on his own. His eyes had always been too expressive to lie convincingly.

"I didn't know," Kaeru snapped back. "I didn't know where she was or what she was doing. I didn't know you existed."

His eyes fell away from his accuser. They always did when he was lying. Jiraiya had once told him that Konoha would be lost if the blond jinchuuriki was ever captured by the enemy since Uzumaki Naruto couldn't tell a lie to save his life. He was, however, very good at keeping secrets. The small blond genin looked away as well, apparently reading Kaeru's guilt for lying as something else.

"What's Whirlpool like?" Naruto suddenly asked.

The corners of Kaeru's mouth turned up slightly at the change in subject.

"Small village." It always had been, according to what little he had been able to learn after Kakashi told him of his heritage. "Everybody's pretty friendly. Or, they were."

"What happened to them?" questioned Naruto with a slightly teasing smile. "They get cranky or something?"

"They were killed." Kaeru answered bluntly. "Everyone . . . everyone's dead."

Kaeru shook his head quickly. At this rate, he was going to get confused: combining what he knew about Whirlpool with what he remembered about Konoha. And it would do him no good to dwell on the scenes he had witnesses. They plagued him enough when he considered his failures. And he knew what kind of madness the pain of losing everyone he cared about could bring him. What Sasuke had become was a prime example. Kaeru looked back up at Naruto, who was looking at his own feet guiltily.

"You said you had to get ready for tomorrow," Kaeru reminded the boy.

"Oh, yeah." Naruto looked up again, glad for the distraction. "Kakashi-sensei's making us do survival training."

Kaeru smiled genuinely. Ah, the infamous bell test.

"You'd better go to sleep, then," he ordered the smaller boy.

"But, I gotta read up on all this stuff," protested Naruto, gesturing to the mess of scrolls resting on his table. He pursed his lips together in a guilty pout and looked at his feet. "I missed out on a lot."

Kaeru's lips parted in a grin. He had probably been the worst student in the history of the Ninja Academy, and that was with the consideration that Shikamaru had slept through most of his classes. It just didn't work. He had always learned best through hands-on work, not lectures.

"This stuff isn't as important as the Rules." Kaeru picked up one of the scrolls and glanced over it. Meditation techniques? Where had he even gotten this? Meditation wouldn't help him unless he wanted to talk to the fox at will. Might be a helpful tool at times, but he had never really enjoyed his conversations with the giant demon.

"Huh, what rules?" Naruto's confusion broke into Kaeru's thoughts.

The older boy set down the scroll again and turned to face his younger self.

"The Rules," he repeated simply. "The rules that apply to everyone in life, not just shinobi."

_The Rules_ was his own name for what he had learned from listening to stories, from traveling with Jiraiya, and from seeing that there were some traits that everyone shared. Life had taught him its lessons, and Kaeru had learned if only because his choices were pay attention or be killed.

"You know, those rules," Kaeru declared with a nod, like a sensei to a student. "And one of 'em is, get a good night's sleep before you face scary one-eyed jounin."

The adolescent frowned slightly and stared at the teenager, trying to bend his words into something his mind could comprehend. Kaeru smiled in triumph at the boy. He reached out a hand and tousled the blond hair.

"Go to sleep, gaki," he commanded again.

"Hey, I'm not a brat!" shouted Naruto.

Kaeru ignored the shouting, picked up his small pack, and dumped it onto the lumpy couch in Naruto's large front room. Among the pack's scanty contents were several scrolls and brushes, as well as a slab for mixing ink.

"You got a bathroom?" Kaeru could use a shower, and his arms were starting to itch again. Naruto grunted his assertion and pointed out a door that Kaeru already remembered.

Kaeru stepped into the small, grimy bathroom and closed the door behind him, peering at the mirror. A tired face stared back at him with eyes the color of ocean depths. He raised a hand and stroked the red hair at his temple, just to confirm that it was his. This was why he didn't like mirrors. He didn't even look like Uzumaki Naruto anymore.

The markings on his cheeks, which had always looked like whiskers to him, were gone. He lifted his arms and pulled his long sleeved shirt over his head. He would have to get some new clothes, but that would present a new problem. He didn't like leaving his seals exposed for everyone to see, but he hadn't been able to find his red _gi _or the arm warmers that had covered them—between his fight with the robbers and the backlash of his freaky jutsu that wasn't supposed to happen, they had probably been destroyed. So, he needed to find a way to hide the seals that made him what he was: A demon.

* * *

_Six months after the fall of Konoha_

Uzumaki Naruto leaned back in the chair he had fallen into and wiped his mouth. He could still taste the bitter bile on his tongue, and he spit a gob of discolored saliva into the bowl beside him. A steady hand appeared in front of him with a glass of water. Naruto grimaced as he took it, greedily swallowing the liquid to rid his mouth of the foul taste. The three others in the room watched silently for a moment before the sole female knelt in front of Naruto's chair and placed her hands on his stomach.

"Don't drink so fast," Ino commanded in her med-nin voice. "You'll just get sick again."

Naruto didn't respond as he handed the empty glass back to the stoic Kazekage. He'd have to apologize later to Gaara for stinking up his office.

"Has this been happening often?" Ino turned to the dark figure in a corner of the office.

"Ever since we got back from Iwa," Shikamaru muttered around the cigarette dangling between his lips. He had been smoking more often now. It was hard to separate his scent from the smell of cigarette smoke that followed him constantly.

Naruto sighed slightly as he felt the muscles around his abdomen relax from their state of tension. The pain subsided under Ino's glowing hands until Naruto felt he could breathe again without being in danger of losing his lunch. And dinner, and whatever else he had been able to eat.

A soft clink made him look up to see Gaara setting the glass down on his desk. The Kazekage was sixteen now, only a few months younger than Naruto, but the robes made him look older. He still had those dark circles around his eyes, proof that it remained as hard for him to sleep as it had ever been. Naruto never asked or admonished Gaara about his sleeping habits. Being tormented by your own personal demon was someone he could understand completely.

Naruto shifted in his chair. Ino's hands on his stomach were starting to tickle now that his stomach had relaxed enough to register their presence. Gently, he took the med-nin's hands in his and pushed her away.

"Stop that," he commanded softly.

Ino shot him a glare that Naruto was sure Tsunade had taught to all future med-nin of Konoha.

"Naruto—"

"Where're the others?" Naruto demanded of Shikamaru before Ino could get started on her rant.

Shikamaru gave a simple shrug.

"They're on they're way. What's the hurry?"

One side of Naruto's mouth turned up in a lopsided attempt at his famous grin.

"What's wrong? Too troublesome, Nara?" asked a redheaded Naruto sarcastically. He hoped that Shikamaru wouldn't notice his hands curling into fists on his knees, but knowing Shikamaru, it was wishful thinking.

In truth, Naruto wasn't looking forward to the conversation he knew was coming. For whatever reasons they had, the Rookies had started looking to him for what to do after Konoha fell. Fat lot of good it did them; they had been cut down to half their original number. Naruto swallowed a sudden rising of bile again and tried not to let his discomfort show on his face. It had been Kakashi who first named them the Rookies: four three-man teams of Konoha genin who had all taken the Chuunin Exams during the Sound invasion and survived. Not only survived but helped defend their village. The title was an ironic one, derived from the fact that all twelve of the former genin could give their teachers a run for their money by the time they were fifteen or sixteen.

Naruto looked up when he heard at least two sets of decisive footsteps. Neji entered the office of the Kazekage first, his stride purposeful and confident, followed by Hinata, whose sandaled feet barely made a sound on the wooden floor. Kiba brought up the rear with Akamaru limping beside him. The white dog hadn't walked straight since Pein had first entered Konoha and destroyed a quarter of the village in his search for the final jinchuuriki. That had been the first of Naruto's successive failures.

Naruto had been at Mount Myobokuzan, training, when he heard about the Akatsuki's attack. In their drive to find him, the rogue organization had ransacked Konoha. Naruto arrived only in time to lure Pein and Konan away from Konoha, letting off a burst of Kyuubi's chakra that had the entire village in an uproar. It was only after Akatsuki had retreated that the full damage was seen. Gai had lost his life, leaving Lee and the rest of the taijutsu specialist's team devastated. And then, there was the backlash of explaining exactly why Akatsuki was after Naruto. He didn't know whether to be pleased or guilty that all of the Rookies took the news so well. They never blamed him for his enemies, or the struggles he faced with his demon. Now, even the remnant left of Konoha looked to Naruto for leadership.

But, as usual, Kiba was the first of them to demand an explanation.

"What's going on, hothead?"

The insult had become Kiba's personal name for Naruto ever since the once-blond shinobi had returned from his nearly-three-year training trip. Naruto just swallowed nervously and rose from his chair. He peeled off the black arm warmers that covered his forearms, flinching when his thumbnail scraped against the dark seals. The room became quiet at the sight. Naruto had never explained his seals to anyone, not even the other five remaining Rookies. They only knew that the seals on his arms held back the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Naurto threw the arm warmers onto the chair behind him and raised his eyes to the oldest boy in the room, still only eighteen.

"Neji, what can you see?" Naruto's gaze flickered down to his own body, a silent indication of what he wanted Neji to check out.

A small frown crossed Neji's face, just a brief moment when his eyebrows closed together, before he complied, bringing his hands together and activating his bloodline. Naruto resisted the urge to tense as if expecting a blow. Neji's Byakugan was the strongest among his clan. Naruto just needed to confirm what he knew was happening to him.

Neji finished his perusal quickly and met Naruto's eyes, his own pearly eyes still framed by almost-visible veins.

"It appears the Kyuubi's chakra is . . ." Neji frowned deeply, searching for words, "eating at your own coil system. It—"

"It's damaging my organs," interrupted Naruto as he hung his head. "I know."

"You know?" Ino repeated indignantly. "You knew this was happening?"

Naruto refused to meet her eyes. Her accusing gaze, though not the exact color green, would be the same piercing one that Sakura would have every time he knowingly put himself in danger.

"Why?"

Naruto glanced up at Shikamaru. The genius had taken the cigarette out of his mouth in order to utter the one-word question. For an answer, Naruto lifted up the hem of his black T-shirt, exposing his stomach. The symbol embedded into his skin was always visible, always a reminder.

"This seal isn't the same as Yondaime's," he began.

It started out the same—a spiral around his navel with eight kanji around it—but this seal extended beyond Yondaime's original one. Lines traced the patterns of Naruto's chakra coils, from his stomach to his sides and up to the bottom of his ribcage.

"When Yondaime sealed Kyuubi into me, he split it," Naruto explained what he had learned from Kakashi, a crash course in fuuin jutsu. "Only the yin chakra was in my seal. But, when Akatsuki extracted the bijuu, they somehow got both halves."

"How is that possible?" Gaara demanded. His brow was furrowed in what could have been a frown. It was hard to tell with Gaara. His arms were folded across his chest, making him look like a shinobi instead of a Kage.

"I dunno." Naruto lifted one hand to scratch at the back of his head. "Maybe the yang chakra was in me all along, maybe it was a different part of the seal. I'm not a master at this."

He had only had three months with Kakashi-sensei. Even with his Kage Bunshin, he couldn't experience everything that Kakashi had to teach. And even Kakashi hadn't known as much as Namikaze Minato had.

But, when Kakashi—" His throat closed, and Naruto wondered if his seals were going to start acting up again. But this pain wasn't in his stomach. It was only his heart that felt Kakashi's name. "When Kakashi-sensei sacrificed himself to seal Kyuubi again, he sealed all of Kyuubi's chakra into me. Yin and yang."

Naruto dropped his shirt again, letting it cover his stomach. He was finding it hard to meet all the eyes on him, all curious or demanding in some form or another.

"The human body isn't meant to take that kind of youki," he announced solemnly.

"Th-that's why you've been getting sick, i-isn't it?" Hinata's eyes were wide, just dropping out of her own Byakugan. She had seen the same thing as Neji.

"Yeah." One of Naruto's hands rose to rub at the back of his head guiltily. "Kyuubi's chakra is tied into mine, so it acts like poison."

It had been the only way to keep him alive and keep the Kyuubi out of Akatsuki's hands at the time: re-seal the demon back into Naruto. Unfortunately, nothing ever worked the same way twice with a bijuu.

"I thought those seals on your arms suppressed it," demanded Kiba. His confused frown was mirrored on Akamaru's white face.

Naruto shook his head vigorously.

"They're not working," he blurted quickly. "I have to re-draw them almost every other night, and they're not stopping the final result, just slowing it."

Silence greeted Naruto's pronouncement, and he dared to hope that no one would ask what the final result would be. Then he could just tell them what he was going to do, and—

"Fuck."

Shikamaru's sudden swearing disrupted any thought Naruto had of escaping quietly. The cigarette was dangling limply from Shikamaru's hands, ready to drop at any moment, as he stared directly into Naruto's far-too-expressive blue eyes.

"You're dying," the Nara concluded quietly. "It's killing you."

Naruto's hand rose to rest at the back of his neck, a sheepish habit he had never been able to stop. He guessed it was too much to hope for, with Shikamaru's talent for analysis. He probably would have been able to figure out what was wrong with Naruto even without the Byakagun.

"It's always been killing me." His head dropped down. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya had warned him about relying on the fox's chakra. Any time he drew it out, his lifespan would shorten. "Just going faster now."

The silence was tense and uncomfortable. Hinata's hands remained clasped in front of her as her lips moved, trying to form words that no one could hear. Gaara was clutching his own arms tightly, his fingers making creases in his official robes. And Kiba was still frowning, puzzled, at Naruto, as he tried to determined what had made Konoha's number one knuckle-headed, hyperactive, surprising ninja just pronounce his own death sentence.

"What can we do?" Ino quickly jumped up eagerly, glancing between Shikamaru, Neji, and Naruto, pleading with _someone _to provide an answer. Her light blue eyes finally rested on the redhead. "I'll heal you. We can keep you alive."

Naruto grabbed the young woman's shoulders to stop her desperation and forced her to look him in the eye.

"Ino, I'm _going _to die." He had already accepted it, _why _couldn't they? It would make things a hell of a lot easier. "Kyuubi's tied into me so much now, I'm not even jinchuuriki anymore. See, no whiskers." He released her to rub the back of his knuckles across his smooth, unblemished cheek. Almost of its own accord, his fingers trailed their way into his short, red locks. "And the damn fox took my hair."

Naruto dropped his hands guiltily when he saw Ino's pained, pitying expression. He didn't mean to make any of them feel sorry for him. And what was so wrong with knowing you were going to die? Shinobi died all the time. Any one of them could be killed for leaving their village and seeking refuge in Suna. The fact that he was going to die because of a giant, evil fox rather than one of Danzo's ROOT just gave him the slight satisfaction that the traitor wouldn't get the bounty on Naruto's head.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," sighed Naruto, turning back to the chair. He picked up his arm warmers and slipped them on. "I'm leaving in the morning."

"What!" Kiba's hot, immediate dissent was the loudest, but Naruto was fairly sure he could hear Hinata stuttering in protest from the other side of the room.

Suddenly, an open palm caught him across the cheek. Although not nearly as devastating as the punches he had come to expect when he did or said something stupid, the force of the slap was enough to snap his head to the side.

"Ino, what was that for?" growled Neji in a rare display of anger. Naruto couldn't say exactly why the Hyuuga prodigy was so willing to defend someone he had once called a loser, because Naruto had certainly failed at everything lately in life.

"'Cuz Sakura isn't here to knock some sense into him," Ino answered hotly.

The mention of his former teammate's name only hardened Naruto's resolve. He swallowed thickly to steel himself against Kiba's rage and Ino's teary frown.

"I have to do this," Naruto announced with all the finality he had had when declaring that he would never give up on Uchiha Sasuke. "There's something I still have to do."

Shikamaru's dark eyes flickered. Naruto could practically see his thoughts racing behind his calm exterior.

"What? You're gonna go wipe out Danzo?" Kiba was a little more vocal in his demand, teeth bared in an almost-growl.

"Not smart enough for that." One side of Naruto's mouth rose in a sardonic smile, an evaluation of his own talents. His smile dropped as he nodded once at the genius. "He's Shikamaru's. I gotta find the last Uchiha."

"You're planning to die," Neji stated in realization. His Byakagun was still active, taking in all of Naruto's features, changed and unchanged, as well as the nonverbal signs that proved Naruto was just as serious about this as he had ever been about anything regarding his former village.

Naruto just lifted his shoulders into an uncaring shrug that Shikamaru would be envious of.

"Nothing I can do about that," he said nonchalantly. "'S long as I take him with me."

Although he would never admit it out loud, Naruto thought he had a good idea of how Sasuke had felt when he left Konoha. Sasuke was determined to do anything for the power to kill the one who had killed his family. Naruto would do the same thing to the one who had killed his. The Avenger had to be avenged.

"Someone should go with you," Shikamaru declared suddenly. "It's troublesome, but—"

"Don't even think about it, Nara." Naruto's gaze turned sharp as his eyes snapped towards Shikamaru. "You gotta take care of Akio."

Akio was the newborn son of Kurenai, the son of Shikamaru's former sensei, and Naruto knew how important the child was to Shikamaru. This was why he had to go alone. All the rest of the Rookies still had teammates or at least family they had to look after.

"I'll be fine on my own." Naruto waved one hand to reassure his comrades gathered in the room.

"It would be better for you to remain here."

Gaara's tone was quiet but firm, and Naruto had no doubt that his statement was actually a command. Naruto just folded his arms across his chest, mirroring the Kazekage's pose.

"Can't order me around, Gaara," he declared cheekily. "I'm a nuke-nin, remember?"

Gaara's shoulders slumped in relaxation, which Naruto found strange. The Kazekage wasn't normally one to give up so easily.

"Please," murmured Gaara.

Naruto's arms fell to his sides, and his eyes found the floor abruptly.

"That's fighting dirty." He could handle accusations and anger easily, but Naruto never wanted to see his friends in pain. His blue eyes rose again, pleading silently with Gaara to understand. "Pein is still alive. If Akatsuki still thinks they can get Kyuubi outa me, I don't wanna lead them here."

Gaara remained expressionless for a moment then nodded solemnly. This was something both of the former jinchuuriki could understand. Those who were precious to you were those whom you protected. At any cost.

"N-Naruto-kun." Hinata stepped forward until she stood in front of the dejected ninja. "You don't have to do this alone. Please, Naruto—"

"Kaeru," he interrupted her abruptly, his eyes turning pained and cold. "Uzumaki Naruto may have been jinchuuriki, but he was never a demon. Call me Kaeru."

* * *

A/N: Eee. Long flashback scene. But it was necessary. A lot of people had been reviewing and asking what the deal was with Kaeru's seals and/or appearance, and I was hesitant to answer because I knew this chapter was coming up and would hopefully answer some questions. I know there are still some loose ends, but I'm planning on Kaeru having flashbacks (flashforwards?) periodically if only to explain what happened between the time he spent training at Mount Myobokuzan and the beginning of my story.

That said, I hope the premise makes sense. Jiraiya explained once that Yondaime divided Kyuubi's chakra when he sealed it, but we were never told where the yang chakra went (to my knowledge). So I used that information when coming up with Kaeru's seals. Basically Kyuubi's chakra is twice as strong now, so he needs extra seals to keep him from dying, but even those aren't working permanently. So, basically if you skipped the entire chapter just to read the author's notes (a strange habit, but go with what works, I guess), you now know what I was trying to do.

Next chapter is on its way. As always reviews are appreciated.

Sincerely,

Fia


	5. Chapter 5

The last time Hatake Kakashi had felt like he was his own person was when he graduated from the Shinobi Academy at the tender age of five, the youngest anyone had ever done so. For that moment he was acknowledged as a prodigy, a boy with great potential.

And then his father had gone on that cursed mission.

After the death of Hatake Sakumo, Kakashi had lived and killed under the shameful shadow of his father. And he had continued to do so until he suddenly found a new shadow to live under. One that far fewer people recognized. With the gift of Obito's Sharingan, Kakashi was able to see chakra, handseals, entire jutsus, and use them to make a new name for himself: Copy-nin Kakashi, master of a thousand jutsus. However, it was a shadow that he would bear without comment, if only so that there would be some part of Obito still living in a Konoha that deserved a much better ninja than the prodigy Hatake Kakashi.

Although a part of him wondered if Sandaime had agreed to meet him at Naruto's apartment simply so that Kakashi would have no excuse for being late.

Kakashi was still looking around the apartment—there were several spots on the wall where the graffiti hadn't been quite cleaned off and covered instead with posters or peeling paint—when Sandaime stepped inside the unlocked door. The old man already had his pipe in his mouth and a contemplative look about his mouth.

"Kakashi," the Hokage greeted neutrally.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi turned from his study of the wall towards his leader. "Is this boy really who he says he is?"

The old man clasped his hands behind his back as he walked around the wooden table, the only piece of furniture in the small kitchen that was littered with Academy scrolls and textbooks. The canvas pack belonging to Naruto's sudden guest was noticeably absent.

"Did you observe anything that would give way to doubts?"

Sandaime had a way of questioning that forced his subordinates to reveal their minds before he gave away anything of what was going on in his.

"No." To be fair, Kakashi's night of observation had turned out to be rather boring. "He told Naruto about Kushina, but he said he didn't know anything about his father. They didn't talk much before Naruto went to bed. Kaeru stayed up, drawing on his arms with his brushes, but then he slept on the futon."

There were some small indications of Kaeru's presence. A carton of expired milk was discarded haphazardly in a garbage can, and the small cushions on the futon were straightened. Kaeru had left the apartment shortly after Naruto sped off to the training grounds to wait for a sensei who now stood in his living quarters. Kakashi still didn't know where Kaeru had gone, due to his necessary meeting with the Hokage.

"I see."

Kakashi's singular uncovered eye snapped to the old man, darkening with the suspicions he usually kept firmly hidden under his crooked hitai-ate.

"Kushina never said anything about a cousin," remarked Kakashi as he tucked his hands into his pockets.

His sensei had always been a private man. Oh, Minato was friendly and patient; he had had to be to put up with the chaos that made up his three-man team. But, Kushina was the one who had shouted her declaration to catch Konoha's Yellow Flash at the top of her lungs. The redheaded kunoichi from Whirlpool had never left anyone in doubt of her feelings or her loyalties. Even so, Kakashi had never heard that she had a five-year-old, ginger-haired cousin.

"Kushina did not say much about her family to anyone, I believe," the Hokage countered calmly. "And Kaeru said that Kushina did not leave Whirlpool on good terms. Perhaps that animosity was passed on to Kaeru until he lost the rest of his family."

The aged leader clamped his pipe in his mouth as he sank into one of the chairs surrounding the table, as if his old legs would not support him much longer.

"Jiraiya might know something more," he speculated. "He was Minato's sensei, after all."

"Is Jiraiya-sama coming back to Konoha, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi raised his eyebrow, interested. Maybe the sannin would have more insight into Kushina's supposed family. Kakashi would feel a lot better if he only knew the identity of the boy who had just conveniently shown up in Konoha to insert himself into Uzumaki Naruto's life.

"He is due for a visit before the Chuunin Exams," answered Sandaime with a fond smile. "Until then, we will merely watch this Kaeru." He pinned Kakashi with eyes that seemed too sharp to belong to an arthritic old man. "He may simply be a boy looking for his family, Kakashi."

Kakashi grimaced. He knew Naruto was alone, had been alone for all his life. But Kakashi had never been good with kids, probably because he had never been one himself. The years immediately following Yondaime's death were spent in ANBU for Kakashi, and by the time he got out, Naruto seemed to have a set pattern already established for surviving. Kakashi was already splitting himself between his own identity and taking on Obito's. He didn't want to be forced to see his teacher in a twelve-year-old boy.

"Speaking of which, isn't your new team waiting for you?" Sarutobi was smiling widely now, as if sharing an inside joke with the lazy jounin.

"If they are unfortunate enough to become my new team, Hokage-sama," replied Kakashi, "they'll have to get used to it."

A part of Kakashi was secretly hoping that this team would fail just like all the others he had tested. It would make his life much easier. But a larger part, including the blood-red eye he kept covered, desperately wished that this one team—the jubilant boy who wanted to be Hokage, the boy who had seen too many horrors for one so young, and the girl who blushed in front of her crush—would be the one team that Kakashi could pass.

* * *

Kaeru used his teeth to tear the price tag off of his new purchase and slipped them on immediately. The cloth of the gloves was tight and new, stretching over the back of his hands snugly. The fingers only reached to his second knuckle, but they covered what they needed to. Together with his long-sleeved shirt and dark pants, the only part of Kaeru's skin still visible was his fingertips and his head. But he wasn't about to wear a mask. There was no need for it, and he didn't want to emulate Kakashi-sensei _that _much.

He also had two new short-sleeved shirts in his pack and one sleeveless, just because it was warmer than he remembered in Hi no Kuni. They wouldn't be very helpful in hiding his seals, but Kaeru had always been good at improvising.

"Admit it, Shino. I rocked!"

The voice, familiarly abrupt and boisterous, made Kaeru spin around even though he had already recognized the owner.

"Your frequent boasts often led Kurenai-sensei to know of our position," returned the boy in sunglasses. His wide collar hid the lower part of his face from view, but the top of his head inclined slightly to the boy next to him.

"What!" His companion had his hood pushed back to his shoulders, and a white pup rested comfortably on the mess of brown hair that graced his head. "That wasn't my fault!"

"K-Kiba-kun." A young girl with short dark hair ran up between the two boys and placed a hand shyly on the boy's arm. "I am s-s-sure that Sh-Shino meant n-n-no offense." She shot a pleading look to the boy in sunglasses, as if asking him to agree with her. Shino gave no indication that he was inclined to do so.

Kaeru let out a soft breath as soon as his lungs started working again. The girl had always been the peacemaker of the team. If she were a little more forceful, the boys might even look to her for direction.

However, considering Hinata's personality, Kaeru doubted it would happen.

Suddenly, Kiba seemed to notice that he and his teammates were being watched. Dark, slitted eyes snapped up to meet Kaeru's gaze indignantly.

"Hey, what're you lookin' at?" Kiba demanded hotly.

Kaeru blinked and wondered how to respond. _A boy who is going to lose his teammate and most of his family in three years _didn't seem quite appropriate.

"Kiba-kun," Hinata cried as she darted forward. "P-p-please, do not be rude." Her desperation gave courage to her stuttering tongue before she turned to the stunned redhead.

"P-p-please, f-forgive my t-teammate, sir." She inclined her head softly, bending at the waist in a proper bow.

Kaeru just stared. The girl in front of him seemed so small. He was used to seeing Hinata as the beautiful young woman he knew she would grow into. She was strong in her own right; her attacks with the Jyuuken were different than Neji's, but they were just as effective. Although, the stuttering had never really gone away.

"Stop staring at her, ya bastard!"

Kiba's angry demand shook Kaeru out of his reverie and brought his attention back to the rest of Team Eight. Kiba was now standing by Hinata's shoulder, glaring furiously at Kaeru. Meanwhile, Shino was silent in the face of Kiba's obvious rudeness. Granted, Shino was usually silent unless logic dictated that he speak up. But this felt more like an agreeing silence than a bothered silence. Kaeru felt Shino's observant stare and knew that the core of Team Eight was already there. Shino and Kiba would do anything to protect their girl.

Kaeru smiled down at the kids then turned away. Those three would be fine.

"Weirdo," he heard Kiba mutter from behind him.

The opportunity was simply too good to pass up.

"Like you're one to talk, dog-boy." Kaeru half-turned back to Team Eight and smirked mischievously.

Kiba's eyes widened in shock before suspicion and anger narrowed them again. Akamaru jumped from his perch, landing on all fours next to his master, his hair bristling as he shared Kiba's offense.

"Kiba, Shino," a firm yet feminine voice interrupted the staring contest.

Kaeru's smile fell as he turned toward the voice. It was strange to see Kurenai in her regular jounin uniform instead of the civilian or maternity clothes she wore after Naruto had gotten back from his training trip. Throughout her pregnancy and even after Akio had been born, Kurenai had been expressly forbidden from participating in missions by Shikamaru, Kiba, and finally Naruto himself. None of them were willing to let Akio lose both of his parents.

"My fault," Kaeru quickly claimed, but he couldn't resist one last barb. "I shouldn't be teasing the kids, I guess."

"Who're you callin' kids, punk?" demanded Kiba, still riled.

Kurenai stepped up and laid one hand on the boy's shoulder, stilling his actions. Kaeru forced his face to remain calm as he inclined his head towards Kurenai the same way one would to an elder or higher-ranked ninja. Then, without a word—he didn't want to risk baiting Kiba again—he turned around and started walking down the road again.

"Kiba," he heard Kurenai call from behind him. "You're a ninja now. You should exercise some self-restraint."

"But, sensei, that guy was staring at Hinata!" protested Kiba. "Like he was a perv or something."

"K-Kiba-kun," Hinata pleaded to deaf ears.

Kaeru dared to glance over his shoulder at Team Eight once more. Kurenai was leading the three new genin in the opposite direction, with Hinata walking close to Kiba, apparently still trying to convince him to calm down. Shino stood slightly apart from the others; he had never been one for physical contact, unless it was with his hive.

And yet, when Shino had been declared missing in action after the fall of Konoha, Kiba had nearly exploded at Naruto that they needed to go back and find the quiet Aburame. Shikamaru had argued, quite expertly, that they all would have been killed if they returned to the flaming city. After that, Kiba had latched firmly onto Hinata as his sole remaining teammate. Between Kiba's fierce protectiveness, the possessiveness of her cousin, and the large white dog that Akamaru grew into, Kaeru had been surprised that Hinata ever had room to breathe.

"Oi, Kaeru!"

Kaeru turned around, still caught somewhere between the fall of Konoha and his arrival in Suna, and saw a short, blond, slightly dirty boy looking up at him with obvious concern.

"Naruto." How long had the boy been calling him? He hadn't heard anything.

"Ne, you okay, nii-san?" asked Naruto intently.

Kaeru's shoulders drooped. Whatever he had been planning before—like he had even _had _a plan—he couldn't leave the boy now. Naruto had already claimed him as a brother. He couldn't just leave Naruto alone again. He knew what kind of hell that was.

"Yeah." Kaeru scratched the back of his head absently. "This is what happens to me when I don't get enough ramen." One corner of his mouth turned up into a half-smile, the best he could do under the circumstances. Then, his smile dropped as he saw three figures beyond Naruto.

A man with wild, silver hair and a crooked hitai-ate stood over a girl with long pink hair and a dark boy with his hands shoved in his pockets and trying very hard to look like he didn't know his companions. Team Seven.

"Oh, I know!" Naruto suddenly cried. "You gotta come to Ichiraku's!"

The boy grasped Kaeru's wrist and started tugging. Kaeru smiled in spite of himself. Damn, he missed this enthusiasm. But there was still something missing.

"Hey, gaki," he called softly. "Why don't we invite your friends?"

Kaeru nodded in the direction of Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, who were studying the scene with varying degrees of interest. Sakura was openly curious while Sasuke was simply pulling his eyebrows together in his usual you-are-too-annoying-to-bother-paying-attention-to glare. Naruto frowned back at them and opened his mouth to protest.

"I'll pay," offered Kaeru before Naruto could say anything.

Granted, the money bag he currently carried in his pack had been pulled from Naruto's top drawer, but the gaki didn't know that.

"Okay." Naruto shrugged agreeably. Anything for free ramen. He turned back to his teammates and waved vigorously. "C'mon, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme."

"Don't call Sasuke-kun a teme, Naruto no baka!" Sakura reaction was immediate as she took off chasing the orange-clan ninja down the street towards the ramen stand. Sasuke followed with a shrug, as if he had decided that he didn't have anything better to do, anyway.

Kaeru hung back and looked at the man left behind.

"Care to join us, sensei?" He struggled to keep his voice even. The last time he had seen Kakashi, the man had been bent over a dying Naruto, calling upon the Shinigami to take Kakashi's life in exchange for a seal that would keep Naruto alive.

"Maa," sighed the jounin. "I think I'll pass."

Kakashi's eye crinkled into a masked smile as he lifted one hand to wave at the departing genin and the redhead who stood stock still, watching the man who had been his first and last sensei walk away. Kaeru tightened his grip on the strap of his pack and turned away as well. Naruto would never let him hear the end of it if he didn't show up to pay for the ramen.

* * *

"See, Kaeru-nii-san, this is the best ramen stand ever!"

Naruto's happy cry filled the small room of Ichiraku's. Sakura blushed and quickly glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone else in the noodle stand had noticed the boy's erratic behavior. This team was going to be a curse. It was just her luck that she _had _to be put on the same team as Uzumaki Naruto. She supposed it was her come-uppance for getting her wish to be on the same team as Uchiha Sasuke.

"Yeah."

The teenager's soft agreement broke Sakura out of her thoughts. The redhead had done little but order a bowl of ramen and stare at the three brand new genin who were currently eating with him. Naruto was oblivious as usual, slurping his noodles with abandon. Sasuke seemed to be doing his best to pretend that he wasn't there at all. But Sakura watched as Naruto's "Kaeru-nii-san" allowed his bright blue eyes to drift from Naruto's happy oblivion to Sakura's observant stare. She lowered her eyes quickly and told herself not to blush.

It wasn't working very well.

"I didn't know you had a brother, Naruto," Sakura commented, just to distract herself.

To her surprise, it was Kaeru who answered, as Naruto's mouth was filled with noodles.

"Technically, the kid's my first cousin, once-removed." His blue eyes crinkled as he smiled and reached out one hand to tousle Naruto's hair.

Naruto swatted the hand away with a grumpy pout, and Sasuke actually looked up from his non-existent bowl of ramen.

"You're his father's cousin?" the Uchiha asked with a slight frown.

Kaeru's eyes flickered to the dark-haired boy at the end of the counter, his smile suddenly dimmed.

"His mother's," corrected Kaeru. He quickly looked back to his ramen. "But I commend you on your observational skills, Uchiha."

"We were never introduced." Sasuke's frown deepened.

Sakura realized that Sasuke was right. She only knew the redhead's name because Naruto had shouted it at the top of his lungs. And Kaeru had never asked for theirs.

"Mmph?" Kaeru looked up from his bowl with several noodles hanging from his mouth. At that moment, Sakura thought that Kaeru and Naruto looked very much alike, removed cousins or not.

"How did you know my name?" Sasuke demanded, a touch of impatience in his voice.

Kaeru's eyes dulled slightly, and he looked back down at his miso ramen.

"Must be the eyes," he muttered.

Sakura frowned in confusion. How would Sasuke's eyes make him recognizable? Maybe Kaeru knew one of Sasuke's relatives, but Sakura had never seen the redhead before. And Naruto had certainly never talked about him.

"How did your survival training go, _gaki_?" Kaeru beamed at his younger cousin, apparently forgetting about Sasuke and his eyes.

"It wasn't even survival!" Naruto swallowed quickly to clear his mouth. His annoyance was clear even to the man behind the counter, and Sakura bent her head in embarrassment again. "We were supposed to try and beat up Kakashi-sensei, and he wouldn't even feed us lunch."

"Sounds like you put them through a lot." Kaeru faced the counter with a knowing smile.

Sakura studied him curiously. She wasn't quite sure who he was addressing until Kaeru glanced over his shoulder.

"Change your mind, sensei?"

Sakura and Sasuke turned as one towards the entrance to the ramen stand, where Kakashi stood lazily with his hands in his pockets. Naruto craned his neck to see what the commotion was about.

"The Hokage would like to see you, Kaeru-kun," Kakashi announced in his lazy drawl.

"I'm not that young." Kaeru grimaced slightly at the honorific and stood. Using one hand to dig through the pack he kept close by him, he withdrew a stuffed pouch that resembled a bloated amphibian.

Kaeru opened the pouch and turned it upside down. A handful of coins clattered to the counter loudly.

"Here's for the meal, Ojiji."

"Hey!" Naruto cried indignantly. "Gama-chan! That's my money!" He turned an accusing finger onto Kaeru. "You said you were gonna treat us!"

Kaeru just smiled triumphantly and tossed the frog-pouch back to Naruto.

"Gimme a break, gaki," he commanded. "I was robbed on the way here."

Kaeru turned away from his cousin with a final wave and followed Kakashi into the street. Sakura shook her head in exasperation. This team really _was _going to be a curse.

* * *

Kaeru followed the scarecrow-man into the Hokage's office and felt his lips twitch in his attempt to suppress the wide grin that threatened to break out on his face. Not only was the Hokage smiling at him, but a brunette chuunin with a familiar faint line of scar tissue across his nose was standing attentively beside Sandaime's desk. Iruka glanced over the redhead suspiciously, studying the darkly-clad young man and making Kaeru wonder if the Academy teacher already knew what Kaeru was claiming to be.

"Kaeru-san," Sarutobi greeted the young man. "I hope staying with Naruto is working out well for you."

Caught slightly off guard by the expectation of a response, Kaeru quickly shifted his attention from his old sensei to his old Hokage.

"It's fine," Kaeru responded hesitantly, not sure of what he was supposed to say.

"Naruto has been living on his own for some time," explained Sandaime. "He is very independent for his age."

Kaeru scoffed openly. "Independent," when applied to children in a shinobi village, either meant that they refused to listen to their superiors or that they had no one to care whether they listened or not.

"But, above all, he wishes for someone to acknowledge him."

Kaeru looked up again with wide eyes at Sandaime's statement. He remembered that being part of his introduction to his team: become Hokage so that everyone was _forced _to acknowledge his existence.

So much for that dream.

Meanwhile, both the Hokage and Iruka were looking at Kaeru expectantly. Kakashi had whipped out his little orange book and was watching surreptitiously from his place slightly behind Kaeru. They were waiting for his response, Kaeru realized. But what could he say to convince them that he was a good guy? He had only shown up a few days ago. How could he explain that he would die to protect Konoha and his precious people? People who didn't even know the depths of his feelings.

"I'll stay with the gaki," Kaeru announced firmly. He glanced down suddenly as his voice dropped to a softer tone. "I think . . . we could both use it."

"Well." Sandaime suddenly took on a serious demeanor as he leaned forward and folded his hands on top of his desk. "There is something else you should be aware of. Naruto has been through a lot in his life."

Kaeru listened with only half his brain as Sandaime explained how the Kyuubi no Kitsune had attacked Konoha, how Yondaime had sacrificed his life to seal the demon, how Uzumaki Naruto was now the container for the fox. And how he was shunned because of it.

"Yeah." Kaeru's simple murmur was more to prove that he was still listening than any kind of acknowledgement of a story he already had memorized.

"Naruto is forced to live with Kyuubi's shadow over him," continued Sarutobi, "and all the villagers are aware of it. Despite his station as a genin and a loyal citizen of this village, they fear him."

"And people hate what they fear," Kaeru interjected with a nod. "I know. I understand, Hokage-sama. Better than you think."

He curled his hands into fists and shoved them into his pockets, despite the fact that he knew his seals were covered.

"I see," said the Hokage, his eyes studying the young man in front of him.

Kaeru silently pleaded with whoever was in charge of these things that the old man wouldn't question him further about his empathy. He still had to figure out a way to explain the fact that he was a jinchuuriki to a demon that was already sealed. And his wasn't quite as secure as Naruto's.

"Well, then." A bright smile suddenly lit up Sandaime's features. "I think we should find you a more permanent place in the village. Are you a skilled worker?"

"Ah." Kaeru brought one hand out of his pocket to scratch at the back of his head. If he told many more lies, he was going to have a hard time keeping them all straight. "I've never been anything but a ninja, Hokage-sama. Even when I was wandering, I hired myself out as a mercenary."

It wasn't quite a half-truth; more like a truth without any specifics. Kaeru _had _done shinobi work for pay. Most of his time after he had left Suna had been devoted to finding the remaining Akatsuki members and killing them, but he still needed money to live. So he had found people who wanted bandits scared away or protection on their own journeys; basically D-ranked missions that wouldn't attract much attention. It at least gave him enough cash to pay for meals and lodging whenever he had been forced to stop at a town.

"Indeed?" Sarutobi's voice showed nothing but curiosity. "What rank did you hold in Whirlpool?"

"I was genin." Now that _was _true. He had always been too busy either training or fighting to take the Chuunin Exams after he had returned to Konoha, and afterwards, he was considered a missing nin and nobody cared about what rank he was. Just about what he could do.

"Well, you understand we can't automatically give you the same consideration without knowing a bit more about you." Sandaime gestured briefly to the man beside him. "Umino-san is a sensei at our Shinobi Academy; he will be able to test you."

Iruka started suddenly at the attention. He had been staring at Kaeru throughout the conversation, taking in the boy's words and reactions. The studious stare made Kaeru slightly nervous, like he was an Academy student caught in yet another prank again.

"Um, certainly, Hokage-sama." Iruka recovered quickly and moved to stand in front of Kaeru.

Obediently, Kaeru performed each task as Iruka called for them: Henge, Kawarimi, and Bushin no Jutsu. He was tempted to perform his Oiroke no Jutsu instead of Henge, just for old times' sake, but that probably wouldn't go over well when he was trying to appear unsuspicious.

"Anything else for practicality, Iruka-sensei?" inquired Kaeru with a smile as he dismissed his bushin. He was lucky that his chakra control was better than it had been when he graduated. At least now he knew not to pour so much chakra into a simple bushin.

Iruka frowned at the title but continued with his job.

"How are you at taijutsu?"

Kaeru frowned. There were several ways he could answer that one. He had never had the taijutsu ability that Lee or Neji had, but he had trained hard enough that he was probably above a normal genin. Then again, he was a seventeen-year-old genin, and that wasn't exactly normal, even in peaceful times.

"I'm all right." He finally shrugged.

"Very well." Sandaime didn't contest Kaeru's vague statement. "You can demonstrate with Kakashi-san."

Kaeru glanced, wide-eyed, over his shoulder at the one-eyed jounin who was reading his dirty book nonchalantly.

"What?" Kaeru demanded, shoving a thumb at Kakashi. "Me against him?"

"Iruka-sensei is the only other qualified," explained the Hokage calmly.

"I'll take a chuunin over Sharingan Kakashi," Kaeru snapped before the old man could finish.

It took him all of five seconds to realize that Kakashi wasn't looking at his book anymore.

"Don't look at me like that," commanded the teenager when Kakashi continued to stare at Kaeru instead of his Icha Icha Paradise. "You've had a reputation since Iwa."

"You're not old enough to remember the war," returned Kakashi immediately.

The speed of his response alone told Kaeru that Kakashi was already suspicious. This fight was not going to be pleasant. Kaeru closed his eyes and resigned himself to a weak retort.

"I told you, I'm not that young." Not with everything he had lived through, and now everything he was going to have to do just convince his precious people to let him stay in the village he would do anything to protect.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I feel I should explain my style a little bit just so you don't get confused. Obviously, in the last chapter, there was an extended flashback scene courtesy of Kaeru. This chapter begins back in the present, with Kaeru being in his own past, just after Naruto has become genin. Thus, the story continues. It is my intention to give you guys brief glimpses into Kaeru's life after manga chapter 410 (or thereabouts), in my own version of what happened to make everything fall apart. I got the idea from watching "Lost," the TV show, where everyone has a back story, but you only get pieces of it at a time, not lengthy flashbacks like in Kishimoto's manga (no offense meant to Kishimoto, I'm just trying a new style). So there will be more flashbacks to come, and they will be set off for the main story to avoid confusion. I hope.

This chapter had a few more voices than my previous ones did, which makes me happy. Surprisingly, writing Kakashi is hard work. That man has too much going on in his head. I still feel like the pace is moving a little slow. Hopefully, after Kaeru gets settled in Konoha, I can get to the exciting stuff. 'Cuz who doesn't like to see Uzumaki Naruto kick butt?

That said, I thought I would be late this week because I was falling slightly behind with schoolwork (which sadly takes precedence over writing Naruto). Luckily, I don't think Saturday afternoon counts as late, but just as a forewarning, my next chapter will be out in two weeks, not one. I have a large project due the first week of October, and I can't afford to get behind again. So, please be patient with me as I get my life back in order.

Sincerely,

Fia


	6. Chapter 6

Kakashi did not like Uzumaki Kaeru. And as unfair as it was, it had much more to do with the young man's appearance than his behavior. Kakashi had only seen Kushina when she was with Minato, especially towards the end, when Kushina's pregnancy was obvious and she and Minato had been living together if only to avoid the questioning glances from the village. Still, he could see how the boy in front of him could be related to the redhead from Whirlpool. Same color hair, same chin, and the same curious look that roamed his surroundings as his eyes refused to stay focused on one thing for any extended period of time. It was annoying.

And it was too convenient. Naruto was a jinchuuriki, a human with a bijuu sealed into him. In any place other than Konoha, the boy would probably be a weapon against the village's enemies. But Minato had wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero. Too bad the boy's skills were sorely lacking. Still, he had managed to learn and employ Kage Bushin no Jutsu after learning it in only one night. Kakashi had become genuinely curious about what kind of person Uzumaki Naruto would turn out to be. But, if another shinobi nation had sent this Kaeru to pretend to be family, to worm his way into Naruto's life and create his own influence, then Konoha would be in danger of reaping the consequences of their negligence of Minato's wishes, no matter how Naruto developed.

All this raced through Kakashi's mind as he stood unmoving on the small training field that the Hokage had led them to. Sandaime and the chuunin, Umino, stood to one side while Kakashi faced down Kaeru in the middle of the field. Kaeru was, at the moment, emitting a nervous energy as he glanced back and forth between Sandaime, Umino, and Kakashi, drumming his fingers against the skin on the back of his neck.

"So," Kaeru finally sighed hesitantly, "is someone gonna say 'start'?"

Kakashi gave the boy an unseen smile from beneath his mask. This was far too easy.

"Start."

The word had barely left Kakashi's mouth when he felt the soft pressure of a sharp blade at his neck.

"Does this mean I win?" Kaeru's voice came from behind the copy-nin.

Kakashi rolled his right eye back, squinting to peer over his shoulder. He was greeted with the sight of another Kaeru, bearing a hopeful smile and holding a kunai to Kakashi's throat.

"Nice trick," Kakashi noted calmly.

The body behind him was solid; he could feel the knuckles grazing against his neck as the hand holding the kunai shifted slightly. And yet, Kaeru still stood about three yards away from Kakashi in the training field.

"When did you make the clone?" asked Kakashi.

"After the Hokage gave me the kunai pouch," answered the Kaeru in front of Kakashi. "You guys were too busy glaring at him to notice me."

Was that the original in front of Kakashi, or was it the boy behind him? Well, Kakashi had a method of finding out.

"You didn't wait for the spar to start."

"Ah." Kaeru hung his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I didn't think it mattered in battle. I mean, an enemy ninja isn't gonna wait for you to stop yelling at him before he attacks."

Kakashi registered the boy's words, but his mind was focused on the kunai at his throat. He felt the metal gently lift off his neck and hover in front of his shoulder. Technically, the weapon didn't pose the immediately threat that it had a moment ago, but a trained enemy would now exactly how to slash the blade as soon as he sensed Kakashi move. So the question was what would Kaeru, who claimed to be nothing more than a genin without a home, do?

Kakashi jerked his elbow into the arm that supported the kunai, knocking it upwards, and turned to his right sharp enough to drive a left uppercut into the redhead's stomach. With a sudden "Omph," Kakashi's fist was buried in a cloud of smoke.

Apparently, Naruto was not the only Uzumaki who knew Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

"Ouch."

Kakashi spun around to meet a charging Kaeru. Correction: five charging Kaerus. Two of the identical figures broke off from the line and reached Kakashi first. One suddenly slammed his palm on the ground, bracing himself as his leg shot out in a low sweeping kick meant to knock Kakashi off balance. The second clone vaulted off the first's back and soared towards Kakashi, fist extended. Kakashi quickly launched into a flip, letting Kaeru's kick pass under his airborne feet as one hand acted as a support on the ground. Kakashi's free arm curled into a fist and caught the higher clone in the stomach before Kaeru's punch could connect.

"Enough with the punching in the gut!" one of the shinobi surrounding Kakashi demanded hotly. "I'm still sore, ya know."

Kakashi merely followed through his one-handed cartwheel until he stood with his back to his enemy. He felt more than saw three more Kaerus approach him and turned around with his arms already raised. The first Kaeru made a flying leap over Kakashi's head and left the second in line to attack the jounin head-on. Counting on the suspicion that the clone currently flying wouldn't be able to do anything in mid-air, Kakashi focused his attention on the two clones in front of him. One feinted to the right before attacking Kakashi's left side. With his hitai-ate still covering his left side, Kakashi's depth perception was a bit off, but it was a perspective he had had a long time to get used to.

Kakashi's left arm came up to block the clone's punch before he dug out a kunai and flipped it over his shoulder. A small 'pop' told him that he had dispelled another of the clones, but somehow four figures still remained. Two flanked Kakashi on each side and two more stood in front of him, watching the battle intently. So, Kaeru was using his Kage Bunshin to avoid getting close to the jounin. Mistake on Kaeru's part. Kakashi flipped two more kunai into his palm and slashed through the clone on his right. Then he kicked away from the remaining clone and let the kunai sail towards the stragglers, watching as the two identical figures took on identical worried looks. Kakashi waited for one of them to leap out of the way in he did not expect was the two clouds of smoke that resulted from the impact of the kunai.

"Wrong guess." The Kaeru on Kakashi's left smirked. "I'm not scared to get my hands dirty."

Kaeru threw a haymaker at Kakashi's masked face. Kakashi frowned at such an obvious attack even as he raised his left arm to block it. Then, Kaeru's right fist made contact with Kakashi's ribs. Kakashi stumbled back, taking advantage of the opportunity to put some distance between himself and his opponent. Dang, the kid could hit hard. Kaeru just smiled and brought his hands together. Suddenly, Kakashi was once again faced with five opponents instead of just one.

What followed then was something that more resembled a game of tag than a spar. Kakashi dodged most of the blows successfully, but it soon became clear that Kaeru wasn't even _trying_ to hit the jounin. At least not in any traditional way. Instead, Kaeru and his clones aimed for places on Kakashi's jounin vest, his stomach, his chest, or occasionally his shoulders. His punches never hurt, they were just taps, as if Kaeru were trying to score points. And yet, if any of the clones had resorted to kunai, Kakashi would have at least five serious stab wounds by now. The jounin frowned beneath his crooked hitai-ate. The fight probably would be a lot easier if he had the time to unveil his Sharingan, but every time he reached for his headband, the clones would redouble their efforts. And no matter how many times Kakashi dispelled one clone, another took its place. There were never any more than five clones, but there were never any less. For Kaeru to keep up this many Kage Bunshin for an extended period of time meant that his chakra reserves were above the normal genin level.

Kakashi jerked to one side and thrust his kunai at the Kaeru in front of him. Before the blade made contact, another clone grabbed Kakashi's target by the arm and spun him out of the way.

"Whoa," cried the Kaeru who suddenly had his back to Kakashi, thrown off balance by his clone's tug.

Seizing the opportunity, Kakashi dug out a kunai and flicked it at Kaeru's back. He could only guess that this one was the original since the clone had gone out of its way to save him. No sooner had the weapon left Kakashi's hand then the clone in front of him brought its hands together in front of its chin. Kakashi tensed, preparing for a jutsu attack, but the clone simply disappeared in a puff of smoke. Without even a twitch, Kaeru ducked and somersaulted under the flying kunai. Kakashi was forced to dodge another punch from a clone as Kaeru recovered and got to his feet.

"Well, that was close," Kaeru remarked.

Kakashi's singular eye narrowed. Kaeru had known that kunai was coming, but only because his clone had dispelled. In this regard, he had more mastery over the jutsu than Naruto did. Suddenly, Kakashi felt a hand grab his left wrist and attempt to twist it backwards. As he tried to lunge into the twist, attempting to relieve some of the pressure, a second clone grabbed his right arm and held him in place. With his arms held by clones and a smiling Uzumaki standing in front of him, Kakashi had a sudden sense of déja vu. So, when he saw a kunai fly towards his chest, he repeated his actions from that morning.

The Kawarami placed him behind Kaeru, but only for about the space of the sudden dispelling of the clone that Kakashi had left behind. Then, Kaeru spun around and launched a second kunai at the gray-haired jounin.

"I gotta find some more Doton jutsus," Kakashi heard Kaeru mutter as his clones surrounded him. "You're a little bit slippery."

Kakashi dusted himself off and stood up straight. With all his identical opponents lined up in front of him, Kakashi took a moment to lift a hand to his hitai-ate.

"You're a little bit unpredictable," returned Kakashi as his fingers wrapped around the familiar metal across his eye.

The statement could possibly be seen as a compliment—it was certainly the reason that Kakashi was planning on relying on his Sharingan. But unpredictability also made even an ally dangerous to his comrades. Strangely, a wide, knowing grin stretched across Kaeru's face, as if he shared an inside joke with his clones.

"Sensei, you have no idea."

Kaeru and his clones charged once again. Kakashi's muscles tensed as he peeled his hitai-ate back from his right eye and prepared for an attack. Suddenly, a pained cry filled the small field. Both of Kakashi's mismatched eyes widened as Kaeru's clones summarily dispelled and left the boy alone among the dissipating smoke. Kaeru doubled over, wrapping his arms around his stomach and falling to his knees. Quickly, Kakashi peered at the boy with his spinning Sharingan. He couldn't see any hand signs or chakra movement that suggested this was a trap, but they _had _just been talking about unpredictability.

Kakashi took out another kunai and flicked it towards the boy, half-expecting another clone to spring up and take the blow. Instead, the kunai grazed Kaeru's right shoulder with enough force to send the young man to his knees, still clutching at his stomach. Kakashi dashed forward, a last kunai already in his hand. He delivered a swift kick to Kaeru's chest immediately and stood poised over the young man a moment later, Kaeru on his back.

"I think that will do," Sandaime announced briskly.

Kakashi froze with his kunai hovering over his opponent's heart. Kaeru seemed unaffected by his imminent death. He simply raised one gloved hand and batted Kakashi's kunai away as he turned from his back to his side, groaning painfully as he did. A harsh cough racked the boy's throat, followed by a couple dry heaves. Despite himself, Kakashi frowned in concern. Unpredictable was certainly a word that fit Uzumaki Kaeru; one minute he was able to force Sharingan Kakashi to reveal his trademark eye, and the next he was incapacitated by stomach pains.

But, Kaeru seemed undeterred. He pushed himself to a sitting position, one hand supporting his weight as the other clutched at his stomach.

"Guess I'm not as recovered as I thought," muttered the boy with a sheepish grin.

"Well, I have seen enough."

Kakashi and Kaeru both looked up as the Hokage made his way over to the pair with Umino trailing behind the elderly man. Kaeru braced one hand on his knee and pushed himself to his feet unsteadily. Kakashi faced his Hokage alongside Kaeru but kept his Sharingan eye open, just for the sake of details.

Sarutobi Hiruzen unclasped his hands from behind his back and adjusted the pipe in his mouth with one hand as the other dipped into his large cloak.

"Congratulations, Uzumaki Kaeru," Sandaime declared as he pull a hitai-ate from within the folds of his robe. "As of now, you shall be considered a genin of Konoha."

Kakashi watched Kaeru's eyes widen before settling into a kind of amused pride. Kaeru let loose a loud, triumphant laugh as he took the headband from the Hokage and grinned widely. His blue eyes fixed themselves on the headband, and Kaeru became subdued just as suddenly as he had been exultant. He used the pad of his thumb to trace around the spiraled symbol of the Leaf then clutched the metal band tightly in his fist.

"_Arigato_, Hokage-sama," murmured the boy quietly. He looked up to meet the old man's eyes, gave him a tentative smile and a nod, and turned again towards the village, walking confidently with his new symbol of status held tightly in one hand.

Silently, Kakashi tugged his headband over his left eye again and noted that Kaeru hadn't even acknowledged the wound that he had received in their spar.

* * *

Iruka watched the boy named Uzumaki Kaeru walk back towards Konoha with a growing sense of unease in the pit of his stomach.

"Hokage-sama, are you sure about this?" he couldn't help but ask the older man beside him.

"His taijutsu was unconventional," remarked Sandaime, "but admirable. And he did seem to be working hard."

Kakashi took another step towards the other two men on the field, tucking his hands into his pockets as he did so.

"He knows how to utilize Kage Bunshin fully." The man sounded just as lazy as Iruka had ever heard him. "And he knows how to fight."

Iruka frowned at the last comment. He was still dubious of this man being Naruto's sensei.

"That was just proved," protested Iruka. "He knows taijutsu."

"He _knows _how to fight," Kakashi repeated, stressing his words this time. His lone eye remained on the Hokage instead of Iruka. "His instincts were good, and he was comfortable in his stance. He's been fighting for a long time, maybe all his life."

"He has already explained that he has always been shinobi," replied Sandaime calmly. "Kaeru has shown nothing to indicate that he would be unfaithful to the village that holds his only family."

"But how can we know that Kaeru _is _actually related to Naruto?" Iruka's objection was heated and the basis for his main concern about Uzumaki Kaeru. "If he's just trying to get something out of this, Naruto will be crushed."

Iruka didn't allow himself to suggest that Kaeru might be interested in Naruto simply because of the Kyuubi, even to two men whom he knew were aware of the situation. Iruka still remembered Naruto's fear and anger that night with Mizuki, when he had first learned the truth. If someone else, someone that Naruto might learn to trust, turned out to be another traitor, Iruka wasn't sure if Naruto could overcome it.

Sandaime slowly sucked on the end of his pipe, making the leaves in the bowl burn brightly temporarily before he breathed out again.

"I understand both of your concerns." His nod at once included both Kakashi and Iruka. "But you seem to be forgetting another factor."

Iruka frowned at the Hokage and wondered if he should have voiced his opinion more clearly. He might not have been ANBU, but Iruka knew he was one of the few who actively looked out for Naruto's wellbeing.

"Kaeru is alone," explained the Hokage. "For many people, such loneliness can break them. Of course, the effects are worse in shinobi. If Naruto can convince Kaeru that there are some things worth fighting for and worth protecting, perhaps whatever hardships Kaeru has seen will diminish in his eyes."

Iruka stared at the ground in front of him and reviewed what he knew about Kaeru. The Hokage had said that he was the cousin of Naruto's mother, although no name was mentioned, and had been wondering alone for some time. Iruka knew what it was to be alone, but to have no roots as well, no sense of familiarity . . .

"It's a risk, Hokage-sama," Kakashi interposed, capturing Iruka's attention again.

"I am aware." The Hokage nodded once, solemnly. "But Kaeru will be monitored closely by a jounin." He looked up suddenly at the one-eyed jounin instructor. "If you're that worried, Kakashi, I can put an ANBU on the boy as well."

Iruka shook his head slightly, wondering if the Hokage was joking or not.

"But I think he deserves a chance to know his family," finished Sarutobi.

Silence reigned in the open field for a moment before Kakashi pulled a small orange book out of his pocket. Kakashi nodded and left the field with a friendly wave at the two men left behind.

"When will you have to return to your students, Iruka-san?"

Iruka glanced at the Hokage, slightly nervous at the question.

"A few weeks, Hokage-sama," he answered honestly.

"I admire your work with them." Sandaime smiled at the much younger man. "The young generation always gives me hope for the future of this village."

With that final wise adage, the Hokage turned and followed his own path back to the Hokage Tower. Iruka sighed and glanced back to where he could just see Kaeru's back disappearing into the village of Konoha. The youth gave Iruka hope as well, but was it wrong for him to be concerned about one student in particular if that student had no one else to worry about him?

* * *

Naruto cursed his teammate, his coordination, and his teammate again—just for good measure—as he stomped home after a very long day. After Kaeru had left the ramen stand, Sasuke had made a comment about not trusting the redheaded teenager. Of course, Naruto had taken offense, and the argument had downgraded from there into a shouting match—at least Naruto had been shouting.

The worst part, however, was when Naruto had lunged for Sasuke, missed by at least a foot, and knocked Sakura's ramen into her lap. Which led to a beat down courtesy of the rage of a woman who had just had her outfit ruined by stupidity. Naruto had spent the rest of the afternoon—and some of the evening—trying to apologize to Sakura and blaming Sasuke for the mess. Come suppertime, she still hadn't forgiven him and had claimed that she needed to go home and Naruto had _better _not follow her or she would scream harassment. So Naruto, tired and disappointed, trudged through his door and into his apartment.

"Hey, gaki."

Naruto jumped at the voice. He was not used to being greeted by anything other than his own boasts when he came home. But now, his weird redheaded cousin was sitting cross-legged on the floor, shirtless and staring down at something on the floor in front of him as he welcomed Naruto home. Unwilling to admit that he had been scared in his own home, Naruto immediately went on the defensive.

"Stop calling me that!" the boy demanded, brandishing one fist at the redhead, who kept his eyes down. Come to think of it, Kaeru was partially to blame for Naruto's mess as well. If he hadn't left, Sasuke would definitely have seen how cool he was. At least, that was Naruto's hope.

Naruto's indignation quickly left in favor of curiosity. With his shirt off, Kaeru left his skin open for study—what skin there was to see, anyway. Most of his body was covered with funny patterns that Naruto had never seen before. They stretched around his stomach up to his ribcage and danced up his arms to his elbows, and there was a thin pink line, like a scar, on his right shoulder. Kaeru sat with an ink block in front of him, one shallow dish filled with thick black ink. He took a kunai in one hand and pressed the blade to the pad of his left thumb, slicing the flesh. Naruto's eyebrows knitted together underneath his hitai-ate.

"Hey, what're you doing?" he asked, slightly concerned now that his cousin was bleeding.

"Staying alive," Kaeru answered shortly.

He leaned forward to hold his wounded thumb over the dish of ink and let the blood drip into the blackness. He kept his eyes on his work even as Naruto stepped forward, curious. Kaeru pressed his forefinger to his thumb suddenly to stop the bleeding and traded his kunai for a brush with a worn wooden handle. Naruto ran his tongue over his lips and watched closely as Kaeru used his brush to mix the blood in with the ink. Then, the older boy lifted the ink-laden brush and twisted his left hand so that he stared at the patterned skin on his forearm. Only then did he look up to meet Naruto's gaze.

"They're seals," explained Kaeru. He looked back down and began tracing the black designs over with his brush. "They keep the demon in me from killing me."

Naruto's eyes flew from the brush drawing its smooth strokes to Kaeru's face, which was already blank with concentration.

"Demon?" breathed the boy.

Naruto hadn't forgotten about his state of being or his recently-acquired knowledge about what was sealed inside him. He just couldn't figure out what it meant yet. He knew he wasn't the same as the demon he carried. Iruka-sensei's words alone would have been enough to convince the young genin, but there was also the fact that Naruto thought he would've had a lot more power if he were really a giant fox demon. But he had never, _never, _considered the possibility that someone else might be in the same situation as him.

"It's . . ." Kaeru began slowly as he painted his skin. "I guess it's mostly youki now, but—"

Kaeru's explanation halted when the teenager looked up and met Naruto's eyes, which were still wide with the realization that his cousin was more like him than he knew. Kaeru snapped his mouth shut suddenly as his cobalt eyes pierced into Naruto's nervous gaze.

"It'll get better," declared Kaeru. His voice had dropped to a lower register, so that Naruto had to lean in closer in order to hear him. "You'll prove them wrong about you, and they'll stop looking at you with those eyes."

Naruto suddenly stood up straight again and stared at his cousin, wide-eyed.

"Wha . . ." was all that left Naruto's open mouth.

How had Kaeru known about the looks that Naruto got? Did people with demons in them get the same looks everywhere?

"Hokage-sama told me about Kyuubi." Kaeru's eyes flickered down to the ink between him and the boy before he looked back up. Blue eyes were burning now, fierce in their color with determination. "It'll get better, Naruto. I promise. And I never go back on my word."

Naruto believed him. He couldn't help it. He believed Kaeru. That things would get better.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. He drew the back of his hand over the skin beneath his nose, feigning an itch. For some reason, his nose was runny all of a sudden.

Naruto sniffed loudly and looked back at his cousin, who was busy with his brush again.

"So, why are you painting your arms?" he asked, some of his usual exuberance returning.

"The demon's chakra is tied into my own," answered Kaeru, not looking up, "but it's not supposed to be. These seals suppress it enough so that it doesn't burn through my chakra coils."

Naruto nodded, even though he wasn't sure he understood. If Kaeru's demon wasn't supposed to be inside him, how did it get there in the first place? And how could chakra burn through your coils? Would something like that happen to Naruto? He grimaced as thoughts of melting skin flashed through his mind.

"You wanna help?"

Naruto's head jerked up at Kaeru's sudden offer. His older cousin had apparently finished his left arm and was holding out his brush towards Naruto. Hesitantly, Naruto knelt down on the floor in front of Kaeru and took the brush between his fingers.

"What do I do?" Naruto looked at Kaeru timidly.

"Just trace over the lines." Kaeru balled his right hand into a fist and held it out to Naruto, exposing the black seals on his skin. "And don't mess up."

Naruto gulped at the final admonition but grit his teeth and bent over the proffered arm. He stuck his tongue between his lips and almost bit down on the soft muscle in his concentration as he slowly drew the brush over the already-existing lines. No one had ever trusted him with something like this before. He was helping to keep his cousin alive. Naruto's attention did not waver until he realized that his brush needed more of the bloodied ink.

"The Hokage made me a genin today," Kaeru announced as Naruto loaded the brush with ink. "I can . . . I can help pay for the apartment if you want."

Naruto almost shouted a happy "Hell, yeah!" The rent for his apartment took up a large chunk of the allowance he got from Hokage-jiji, and he didn't know how much the pay for missions would help if all he did was chase evil cats. But his voice suddenly died at the look on Kaeru's face. It was hesitant and guarded. Like Kaeru was afraid that Naruto would say no.

Naruto glanced back down at the seals on the larger, stronger arms in front of his, and he wondered if Kaeru had been hated. Maybe Kaeru had been alone, too. But Naruto didn't know how to say that Kaeru didn't have to be alone anymore, that he had Naruto now. Not when Naruto felt as alone as Kaeru looked. So, Naruto settled for doing the best job on Kaeru's seals that he possibly could—better than anyone else could do. Because this was family, and family should stick together, shouldn't they?

"Yeah," Naruto murmured his agreement as the black line of ink wound around Kaeru's arm smoothly.

* * *

Kaeru stood on the flat roof of the apartment complex, letting the night air dry out his freshly painted arms. Naruto had already been sent to bed, with surprising obedience, after a quick meal of instant ramen—the only supper either of them could fix in such a short time. A sardonic smile crossed his face as Kaeru wondered if he should learn how to cook. Or at least make Naruto learn how to cook since he would be the one living.

Kaeru swallowed hard and glanced down at his arms. The fight with Kakashi had been the second time in the three days since he had woken up in the hospital that his seals had hurt so badly that he found it hard to function. And that wasn't counting the debilitating episode against the robbers that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. At any rate, there was only one conclusion that Kaeru could see: his condition was still deteriorating. The seals on his arms were probably going to have to be strengthened more often now. But, unless he found someone who knew about seals and youki on the level that Yondaime had, nothing about his situation was going to change.

Kaeru was still going to die.

Not that he was bothered by the revelation. Kaeru had been planning on dying ever since he had needed the suppressing seals on his arms. That was why he had been traveling on his own. He had to accomplish his goal of killing the last Uchiha so that the remaining Rookies and loyalists to Konoha would have one less obstacle to worry about when they took back their home. But now, maybe he could just go out and kill Orochimaru and the rest of Akatsuki so that none of the failures in his life would visit _this _Konoha. That would be easiest, wouldn't it? It wasn't like anyone in Konoha trusted him, between Iruka and Kakashi.. The Hokage hadn't said anything, but if Kakashi was suspicious then Sandaime sure as hell would be.

Kaeru blinked once as a different thought occurred to him. He looked down again, turning his right palm upwards to look at seals carefully drawn by a certain twelve-year-old blond. Kaeru had told himself that he was offering Naruto the brush because Kaeru wasn't that good at painting with his left hand. But that wasn't the real reason, and deep down, Kaeru knew it. He liked being with Naruto. He couldn't consider himself the same person as the smaller blond; there were too many years and far too many deaths between them. But, looking at Naruto, Kaeru found the first of a long list of reasons to stay in Konoha.

Uchiha Sasuke was in Konoha. He was twelve years old and an arrogant bastard, but he was a part of Team Seven. Sandaime Hokage was still alive and ruling the village. Kurenai didn't have the lines of worry and fear that had been permanently etched into her face.

Kaeru curled his right hand into a fist. He could change things here. Now. If Naruto could be stronger than Kaeru had been. If Orochimaru didn't give Sasuke that stupid mark in the Chuunin Exams. If Sandaime didn't die—

So many ifs, and not enough time. Never enough time.

He could change things. He might not have much time, but in the time that he had, he would change things. It didn't matter if Kaeru never lived to save the world. Uzumaki Naruto was the one who wanted to be Hokage, anyway. Kaeru smiled at the faces on the mountain that gazed imposingly over the village. His village. He turned away and walked back down the wall to the window that led into the small apartment he now shared with his family.

* * *

A/N: Just to give you an idea, the first scene in this chapter took me about twice as much time to write as the second scene. Proof that I am not going to be a fight choreographer when I grow up. But I decided to focus on Kaeru's taijutsu in the fight instead of his ninjutsu knowledge, because busting out a Rasengan would be a little obvious.

Anyway, thank you to those who told me Sandaime's real name, which was recently released in the Naruto databook. I never knew about these things, which I suppose proves that I'm not as much of a fangirl as I thought.

Final note: this chapter marks the end of the introduction arc, setting up the characters and their places. Starting with the next chapter, you'll see more of canon action, which is very exciting (for me, at least). Unfortunately, the next chapter will also take me two weeks to upload. I'm working all day tomorrow, and my parents are coming for a visit next weekend, so I'm giving myself a little leeway for the next 5,000 words. But, as always, your fidelity is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Fia


	7. Chapter 7

"Don't pull that one! That's my fennel."

Kaeru frowned as he snatched his hand away from the plant he had been about to uproot. It looked pretty much like a weed to him, but how was he supposed to tell the difference between weeds and plants that didn't have flowers on them? Although he supposed that was why the wrinkled old lady was currently standing over his shoulder, scrutinizing his every move. Not to mention the jounin in sunglasses watching Kaeru like a hawk.

Kaeru wondered who was keeping an eye on Konohamaru now that Ebisu was regulated to babysitting the latest addition to Konoha genin.

Swiping the back of his arm across his forehead to clear it of sweat, Kaeru reached down to a plant that looked fairly similar to one he had previously yanked and pulled it. When he didn't hear any cries of protest from the old lady, he shook the dirt from the roots and tossed the weed aside. He had forgotten how mindlessly boring D-ranked missions could be. Kaeru had lived through countless attacks from everything from bandits to crazy-take-over-the-world-through-bijuu missing nin. And now he was pulling weeds for a picky old hag. Not to mention the fact that he was sweating buckets under his dark, long-sleeved shirt that covered his skin.

The things he did for his precious people.

A small smile cross Kaeru's face as he pulled another weed and tossed it onto his growing pile. Surprisingly, the past few weekd of D-ranked missions hadn't been a total loss. At least Naruto had someone to sympathize with him when complaining about how boring it was to chase cats and patrol the village walls and carry groceries for old ladies. And D-ranked missions hardly took up any chakra. Kaeru hadn't had a problem with his stomach—or more accurately his _seals_—since that last spar with Kakashi. The only drawback was that Kaeru knew his condition was getting serious if his seals needed to be strengthened every time his used chakra. He would need to find a way around that, and soon, if he was going to survive long enough to do anything.

Maybe he could ask Naruto to give him a hand with that. The brat had quickly fallen into the habit of asking his Kaeru-nii-san every night if needed his seals painted. A part of Kaeru was glad that he could refuse Naruto, given that the need to strengthen his seals would mean he was that much closer to death. But a larger part of him saw the disappointed flinch that Naruto wasn't that good at hiding yet. Naruto would turn away with tight shoulders, silently accepting the fact that his older brother figure didn't need him, and Kaeru would demand where he was going when Kaeru had so much to teach him.

So far, Kaeru had worked mostly on the gaps in Naruto's knowledge. They had gone over basic history and ninja ranks, using as many examples of Naruto's acquaintances that Kaeru could think of. They both retained things better when they could connect what they were learning to personal experience. Kaeru hadn't even gotten to the finer points of Kage Bushin, but he was still unsure about that training. Kage Bushin was a kinjutsu for a reason. Each copy of the person had its own experiences and memories released whenever it dispelled. But, too much information, and the originator's brain would fry.

There was a more technical term for it, of course, but Kaeru couldn't remember what Sakura had called it.

"Hey," Kaeru called over his shoulder suddenly. "Whaddaya want me to do when I'm done?"

"Why?" Ebisu frowned at the boy.

"'Cuz I'm done." Kaeru smirked at Ebisu's confusion.

The jounin stepped closer and looked over his work suspiciously. Kaeru grimaced; did the guy think that he would be a slacker just because he was supposed to be related to Naruto? Kaeru was offended. Or at least he could pretend to be. He was good at that.

"I suppose the boy does good work," cracked out the old lady, eyeing her garden surreptitiously.

Kaeru shot a triumphant "so there" look at Ebisu that quickly disappeared when the old lady took out a handful of crinkled bills and handed them over to the jounin. Kaeru watched the lady retreat into her house before he turned his attention back on the closet pervert.

"I do all the work and you get paid?" Kaeru grumbled as he got to his feet and dusted the dirt off his knees.

"You don't understand the economics of this village yet," Ebisu replied snippily.

Kaeru scoffed and shook his head. He knew far more about this village than anyone thought. Not that he could afford to tell anyone that. At any rate, he knew what would happen to the money; those who hired ninja paid the village proper then the funds were distributed to the ninja who completed the mission according to the rank of the mission.

"Hokage-sama needs our mission report," the jounin reminded his shorter companion.

Kaeru just turned around with a lazy wave.

"Have fun with that."

He started walking away until he knew Ebisu would be fuming behind him. Only then did Kaeru look back over his shoulder at the flustered jounin.

"What?" Kaeru's tone was a mixture of demand and surprise. "You make genin fill out mission reports in this village? Hard-asses."

Kaeru turned again and dashed away, taking full advantage of Ebisu's incredulity to escape. He threaded his way down a crowded street before diving into a small dango stand, leaving Ebisu chasing a kage bushin that had instructions to dispel as soon as possible. Kaeru didn't want to waste any chakra.

The redhead slipped his gloved hands in his pockets and stepped casually out of the stand. The corners of his mouth lifted easily as he started walking in the opposite direction as the flustered Ebisu. It was only mid-afternoon. Kaeru wondered if Kakashi was still as late as ever.

* * *

"He's late again," grumbled Naruto as he sat beneath the tree. "What kind of stupid teacher did we get stuck with? First, he gets hit with a falling eraser, then he shows up late for _everything_."

"Naruto," Sakura snapped a reprimand at the boy. "Kakashi-sensei is a jounin. You should show some respect."

Resting his back on the railing of the bridge that crossed the river that ran through the northern part of Konoha, Sasuke scoffed at the antics of his teammates. Secretly, though, he agreed with the loud-mouthed boy. If he was just going to sit and wait around for his sensei, he would rather do so at home, where he could practice his shuriken throws.

"Hey, kids!"

Sasuke's head shot up at the friendly call. A redhead dressed in dark colors from his collar to his ankles waved at Team Seven as he approached the bridge. He wore a Konoha hitai-ate tied around his left bicep and a shuriken holster on his thigh, and he was sporting the same grin that Sasuke had seen frequently on Naruto.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii-san!" Naruto returned the greeting happily as he got to his feet to greet his first cousin, once-removed.

Sasuke gazed at the new arrival calmly. He was still unsure of how he felt about Kaeru. Sasuke, like most of the students at the academy, had never thought twice about Naruto's family. The dobe was an orphan and always had been. He certainly wasn't the only one in the shinobi village, but he did get the most attention. It was as if people looked at Naruto and saw the epitome of what the shinobi life could leave behind. Naruto was alone. He was like Sasuke in that regard. At least he had been until Kaeru inexplicably showed up. Yesterday, Naruto had explained that Kaeru hadn't known about Naruto's existence, so he was excused for never coming to care for his family. But something was still off about the red-haired shinobi.

"Kakashi-sensei's late again," Naruto announced loudly, meeting Kaeru on the bridge, just in front of Sasuke's resting place. "What're you doin' here?"

Kaeru slipped his hands into his pockets as he shrugged easily.

"I finished my mission early and decided to check on you, gaki," he answered.

Naruto scowled at the nickname, but Kaeru was already looking over the top of the blond's head to the tree behind Naruto.

"Hi, Sakura-chan."

Sasuke glanced at Sakura in time to see her bow politely to the teenager.

"Good afternoon, Kaeru-san," she responded.

Kaeru just chuckled and raised a hand to rest at the back of his neck.

"You don't have to be that polite, Sakura-chan." Kaeru's light eyes squinted shut as he gave the young kunoichi an amused smile. "Not to me."

"You'd rather be called Kaeru-kun?" Sasuke demanded.

Kaeru's eyes snapped to Sasuke. He had that look again. As if Kaeru were looking at Sasuke and seeing someone else. Sasuke was sure that Kaeru had never been in Konoha before—Naruto probably would've said something if that were true. And yet Kaeru had recognized Sasuke as an Uchiha, even though Sasuke didn't have the Sharingan yet.

"Sheesh." Kaeru suddenly turned away from Sasuke and sighed. His hand dropped to his side again, but he didn't say anything else. Or answer Sasuke's question.

"Hey, what kind of mission did you have, Kaeru-nii-san?" demanded Naruto.

"Just D-ranked. Pulling weeds and helping an old lady." A sly smile appeared on the older nin's face. "Maybe Kakashi-sensei needs extra money, so he's taking D-ranked missions, and that's why he's late all the time."

Naruto's eyes grew wide at the implications.

"Really? You think?"

Sasuke scoffed again. Naruto was too excited, or simply too stupid, to see the amused twinkle in Kaeru's eyes.

"Dobe."

The reaction was immediate.

"What did you call me, teme!" Naruto whirled to face Sasuke with one fist upraised.

Sasuke glowered at the boy and waited for the blow, eager to do _something _other than wait. Suddenly, a larger hand wrapped around Naruto's fist, halting him in mid-swing.

"I got a better idea, gaki." A corner of Kaeru's mouth curved upward as he looked down on his cousin, ignoring Sasuke. "You think you can hit me?"

"Huh?" was Naruto's articulate response.

"My missions are boring, and I need someone to train with," explained Kaeru. He released Naruto's fist, but the blond had completely forgotten about his tiff with Sasuke by this time. "You wanna spar?"

Naruto paused for a moment before breaking out into a wide grin.

"Yeah!" he agreed happily and danced his way back across the bridge, followed by a smiling Kaeru.

Sasuke scoffed at the two Uzumakis' behavior and leaned back against the bridge again with his arms folded across his chest. He ignored the scuffling sounds of fighting that now came from the small open area just beyond the tree across the bridge and stared at the running stream beneath him instead.

He wasn't strong enough. He supposed that he had known that all along, but during his initial fight with Kakashi, just before the man had declared them unfit to be ninja, Sasuke realized that the gap in his strength was more prominent than Sasuke had first thought. He had ended up buried to his neck by a simple Doton justu, and even worse, he had almost spilled his worst memory to Sakura of all people.

Killing Itachi was his goal, _his _burden to bear, and no one else's. He couldn't afford to let anyone know that he was still haunted by his past, even if most days the fear and loneliness had hardened into the raw passion of an Avenger. It was something that could be seen as weakness. And Sasuke refused to be weak.

"Stop getting so frustrated!"

The command jerked Sasuke's thoughts away from his brother, and he looked over at the sparring match. Naruto stood in the field with five other clones, but it was hard to tell which was the real body since all six of the figures were panting and sweaty. Kaeru, on the other hand, faced Naruto from about three yards away, alone and untouched. He didn't even have a scratch on him. Curious despite himself, Sasuke straightened and walked towards where Sakura sat beneath the tree, watching the ordeal.

"The dobe hasn't hit him yet?" Sasuke demanded.

Sakura looked up with a slight blush across her cheekbones. Sasuke ground his teeth together and fixed his eyes on the two combatants rather than his kunoichi teammate. It was annoying the way she fawned over him and blushed whenever he was around.

"Ano, Naruto has hit Kaeru-kun twice already," answered Sakura finally. "But Kaeru was just a clone."

So, Kaeru knew Kage Bushin no Jutsu as well. Sasuke wondered how useful this technique was supposed to be. It was obviously higher level. Had Naruto learned it from Kaeru originally?

"You get so frustrated, you can't see where I am," Kaeru explained to his cousin in calm tones. "Concentrate."

"You're worse than Kakashi-sensei!" one of the Narutos retorted.

"At least I don't read porn while I'm teaching." Kaeru just smiled then beckoned with one hand. "C'mon. Try again."

Naruto growled and charged, all six of him. Kaeru waited patiently until two of Naruto's clones reached the teenager first. One was dispensed with by a quick jab to the stomach while the other received a kick to the teeth. Kaeru jumped backwards to avoid an obvious haymaker from another Naruto and flicked a kunai at his attacker.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted as the clone disappeared into a cloud of smoke. "This is taijutsu. No weapons allowed."

"You shoulda said that before, gaki." Kaeru looked unrepentant as he stood in front of the three remaining opponents. "Besides, I didn't hit _you_."

The excuse seemed to do little to comfort Naruto, who took out a shiruken of his own and threw it at his cousin. Kaeru jumped over the weapon and raced for Naruto. Suddenly, Kaeru leapt over two of the Narutos in front of him. He reached out and grabbed each one by the head while he was still in midair and forced them to headbutt. The two clones dissipated, and Naruto was left alone. Indignant, he turned around to face Kaeru as he landed and pulled his fist back for a blinding blow.

"Nope." Kaeru almost sounded apologetic as he sidestepped Naruto's punch and grabbed the boy's collar. Using his larger size and longer reach, Kaeru pulled Naruto off his feet and launched him towards the tree.

Naruto flew through the air, flipped once, and crashed into the ground beside Sasuke, the back of his head slamming against the hard earth. Sasuke lifted one corner of his mouth into a smirk.

"Hmph. Dobe." However disappointed Sasuke was with his own growth, at least he felt secure in the knowledge that he couldn't be worse than Naruto. His smirk grew slightly wider at Naruto's standard reaction when the blond snapped his head around with a lock of absolute indigence.

"Shut up, Uchiha."

Sasuke shifted to glare at Kaeru, who was standing in the middle of the open area with his arms folded. The redhead was frowning, apparently displeased with the scene that met his eyes.

"You couldn't do any better." Kaeru's statement wasn't a form of bragging. He sounded like Kakashi; just explaining how weak Sasuke still was.

"You're comparing me to that loser?" demanded Sasuke as he grit his teeth together. He was _not _weak.

Kaeru studied Sasuke seriously for a moment before one corner of his mouth turned up in a knowing smile.

"Yeah. I'd say the similarities are all there," Kaeru declared and summarily turned his back on Sasuke.

Sasuke balled his hands into fists, hot anger boiling up from his gut. He was _not _weak. He refused to be weak.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted, leaping to her feet.

Sasuke ignored her worried cry and ran at Kaeru's back. Kaeru just kept walking calmly before he launched himself into the air. Sasuke tracked the taller nin's path of motion easily. He could see Kaeru's body as the taller boy arched over Sasuke's head, twisted in midair, and landed behind him, facing the angry genin.

Sasuke's lips peeled back to bare his teeth as he quickly changed directions and launched a fist directly at his opponent. Kaeru just swiped one hand across his body, capturing Sasuke's wrist as he pushed his fist to the side. The larger boy twisted the wrist he held easily and used Sasuke's own momentum to turn him. Suddenly, Sasuke's arm was twisted behind his back and held there by one of Kaeru's hands as the other was braced on Sasuke's shoulder. Kaeru leaned over the shorter boy's shoulder so that his mouth lined up with Sasuke's ear.

"Am I goin' slow enough for ya?" demanded the victor.

Sasuke let out a frustrated cry and tore away from Kaeru's grip. The fact that Kaeru released him before he used any escape techniques only further angered Sasuke. He spun around and faced Kaeru again. This time Kaeru charged. Sasuke avoided the first blow and was forced to go on the defensive. He blocked, he dodged, but Kaeru kept pounding at him. After a few minutes, Sasuke noticed something. Every so often, Kaeru's offense would leave a opening: his arm would linger above his head for just a second, or his fist would remain cocked back for longer than it needed to, leaving Sasuke an opportunity that he wasn't sure if he should take.

"Sasuke," Kaeru muttered with a frown, "you're better than that."

Sasuke bared his teeth and thrust his fist into one of the openings Kaeru provided. Before his punch could connect, Kaeru's hand came up to slap Sasuke's hand. Not hard, but enough to force his fist down a few inches into a new position where his punch would connect with Kaeru's ribs. Or at least it would have if Sasuke hadn't dropped his fist out of shock.

What the heck was Kaeru trying to do?

The fight continued with several repeats of Kaeru's performance. Using slaps or taps, Kaeru would move Sasuke's punches or kicks into positions where they would do more damage than Sasuke originally planned. And yet, Sasuke still couldn't hit the genin. Then, Sasuke saw Kaeru's eyes flicker to their audience by the tree.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried, more in worry than anger.

Capitalizing on the momentary distraction, Sasuke planted his feet and launched a punch right at Kaeru's face. Kaeru's eyes turned back to Sasuke just in time to catch a fist across his jaw. Kaeru's head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, and Sasuke smirked triumphantly. Still frozen in his place, Kaeru lifted his eyes and muttered two words.

"Hey, Hatake."

Surprised, Sasuke turned towards the tree. Naruto and Sakura were on their feet, accompanied by a jounin with only one eye showing and a small orange book in one hand.

"Maa, are you lost, Kaeru-kun?" asked Kakashi.

Kaeru lifted one hand and rubbed his thumb against the edge of his mouth where a bruise was quickly forming.

"Your students were bored, so we were sparring," he responded easily. His hand dropped again as he smiled at Kakashi. "See what you miss when you're late, Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke studied the teenager in front of him. Kaeru's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. He was hiding something, but Sasuke didn't know if it was a reaction to Kakashi or disappointment that Sasuke had managed to hit him.

"Ah." Kakashi didn't respond much to Kaeru's statement. "I think someone was looking for you."

Sasuke glanced over Kakashi's shoulder to see a man in dark clothes and sunglasses standing on the bridge, looking very displeased with something. Or someone.

"Yeah, yeah." Kaeru rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. "Back to business."

He rolled his shoulders back and lifted his hand in a lazy wave at no one in particular.

"See ya later, brats."

"What were you doing?" Sasuke demanded before Kaeru could walk away.

Kaeru glanced over his shoulder at the Uchiha with a slight frown.

"Don't get pissy, Uchiha," the taller genin commanded quietly. "You won, anyway."

"That wasn't sparring," countered Sasuke. "You were . . ." His eyebrows knitted together as he came to a realization. "Teaching."

Kaeru had been forcing Sasuke to see his own mistakes. Whatever positions Sasuke had off, Kaeru would correct by moving Sasuke's attacks. He had been teaching.

"That depends." A slow smile crossed Kaeru's lips as he brushed the back of his hand against the corner of his mouth again. "Learn anything?"

Before Sasuke could respond, Kaeru turned away and started for the bridge, where the man in sunglasses was waiting for him.

"Bye, Sakura-chan," the redhead called as he passed the three ninja beneath the tree.

Sasuke slowly approached his team, still watching Kaeru's back. How did Kaeru know how good Sasuke was supposed to be? And why was the teenager presuming to teach him anyway? Nothing made sense about Naruto's new cousin.

* * *

Naruto captured the lower of his lip in his mouth and frowned as he studied the people below him. He was perched on the edge of the flat roof that covered his apartment building, his legs dangling below him. He was tempted to get some water balloons or at least some spit balls to launch at unsuspecting victims' heads from his vantage point, but there were more important things at stake here than mere pranks.

"What about that one?" Naruto pointed out a dark haired man who looked about the same age as his companion.

"What about him?" repeated Kaeru in a patient tone.

That was one thing that Naruto had quickly learned about his older cousin: Kaeru was a good teacher.

"He walks like Iruka-sensei." Naruto knitted his eyebrows together as he tried to find the words to describe what he saw. Hopefully, he looked up at Kaeru, who sat in a similar position on the roof next to him. "Right?"

Kaeru nodded, pleased.

"Yep," he answered then frowned at the man in plain clothes that Naruto had pointed out. "I think he's a jounin."

"Yes!" Naruto pumped one fist in the air triumphantly.

After supper—and after Naruto had caught Kaeru trying to repaint his seals without any aid and summarily had helped his cousin out—Kaeru had dragged Naruto onto the roof. Literally. Naruto was going to ask how Kaeru had managed to walk vertically up the side of the building, but first he had to finish this task. Kaeru had challenged Naruto to point out all the people below them who were off-duty ninja. It was harder than Naruto thought, since the shinobi he was looking for didn't have any vests or hitai-ate to identify them. But he was determined to make Kaeru proud.

"Hey, that guy's a ninja, too, right?" demanded Naruto. "He's twitching."

Well, that observation was obvious, at least. The man in question—maybe Kakashi's age, but it was hard to tell since Kakashi had all the hair of a sixty-year-old man—was arguing with a younger man while his fingers rubbed together with a sense of regularity born of habit rather than rhythm.

"Twitching just means he's annoyed," Kaeru announced after leaning forward to study Naruto's target. "Use your eyes, gaki. They're your best feature."

At the sight of Kaeru's happy smile, Naruto quickly leaned away from his blood relation.

"Ah, Kaeru-nii!" he yelled, indignant. "Don't say weird stuff like that."

Kaeru seemed to catch Naruto's meaning immediately as he waved his hands in front of him and frowned at Naruto the way Sakura did when her teammate said something wrong.

"That's not what I meant, baka!" Kaeru snapped immediately.

Kaeru huffed and turned back to studying the street below them as Naruto shot him a dubious glare. But then Kaeru's face fell into a solemn gaze over the village.

"Konoha's always had really strong eyes," Kaeru noted. "Mostly because of their doujutsu."

"Huh?" Naruto hoped that this wasn't something he was supposed to know. Funny, though, his ignorance never seemed to bother Kaeru like it did his teammates.

"They're kekkai genkai." Kaeru turned to Naruto and explained simply. "Bloodlines that are passed on through families. And they have to do with eyes. The Hyuuga have the Byakugan."

"Hyuuga?" Naruto repeated. That was the name of that weird girl in Naruto's graduating class. The one that always looked like she had a fever. "Like Hinata-chan?"

Kaeru looked over at Naruto and nodded seriously.

"Yeah," he murmured. "She's got a big clan for a family. It's not just her sister and her dad."

Naruto cocked his head to the side slightly and thought. He had never seen Hinata with her family, but he thought that would be nice, to have a giant family to look out for.

"The other one's the Sharingan." Kaeru's voice interrupted Naruto's ponderings for a moment. "From Uchiha."

"Sasuke-teme?" Naruto frowned. "He's got a bloodline?"

His frown quickly fell into a sullen pout. It figured that the bastard had yet another advantage that Naruto didn't have. Why couldn't Naruto have some cool ability that would make even Sasuke jealous?

"Yeah. It used to be in all Uchiha, but now Sasuke's the only one left."

Naruto frowned at Kaeru, but the older boy was staring out over rooftops again with that serious gaze that Naruto suspected he used when he wasn't happy.

"His family was killed, ya know," Kaeru suddenly announced, glancing from the corner of his eye at Naruto.

Naruto blinked and quickly fell serious himself. Somewhere in his mind, he had registered the fact that Sasuke was alone, like him. But it wasn't something he thought of often. Usually, he was too busy trying to find some way to get Sasuke to acknowledge him.

"Is that why he's such a bastard?" Naruto demanded with a grimace.

"I'm sure it's part of it," Kaeru chuckled and leaned back, bracing his hands behind him. His face became thoughtful as he transferred his stare from the village to the darkening sky. "It's hard. Being alone."

Naruto looked at his cousin and scowled at the expression on his face. Kaeru would get that pained look sometimes. Mostly at night when he thought Naruto wasn't looking.

"But we're not alone anymore," Naruto declared firmly. He wasn't alone, and neither was Kaeru. Kaeru didn't have to be so sad anymore.

Kaeru turned his head to look at Naruto fully, a surprised stare taking the place of Kaeru's pain. But then Kaeru's face settled in a more subdued smile as he wrapped one arm behind Naruto, resting his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"No."

Naruto leaned into the arm behind him. Apparently the lesson was done for the night, but that was okay with Naruto. He was comfortable. Kaeru leaned forward and gazed down at the street below them.

"Hmm," he hummed to himself thoughtfully. "We shoulda brought some spitballs up here or something."

Naruto broke into a wide grin. Suddenly, he didn't care what kind of crazy eyes or blood-whatever Sasuke had. Naruto had best big brother in Konoha.

* * *

Kaeru rolled his shoulders back as he stood just outside the Hokage's office, his mind still on the events of the previous day. For that brief time when he had been sparring first with Naruto then Sasuke, Kaeru had felt like he was a part of Team Seven again. Except he didn't have the same connection to the others as he had with Naruto, just because the boy had immediately accepted him without question. Naruto was like that. His ability to see the good in everyone was one of the best things about him.

It was also one of the first things Kaeru had lost after the fall of Konoha.

The others blamed it on the fact that Naruto held himself responsible for the whole mess; it was him that Akatsuki was after, so it was his fault. Easy enough logic. Personally, Kaeru thought it had more to do with the fact that the fall of Konoha was the first time one of his own teammates had been killed. It hadn't been the first time Kaeru had lost someone he considered his family, but it certainly had hurt the most.

Suddenly, the doors to the Sandaime's office opened, and Kaeru was surprised to see three familiar genin march past him.

"Stupid drunk doesn't think I'm a real ninja," the short blond in front of Kaeru muttered with his eyes narrowed dangerously at the floor in front of his feet.

"Shut up, dobe," commanded his dark teammate.

Kaeru watched the genin of Team Seven walk past him with a slight sense of amusement. They really needed to work on their observational skills.

"Good morning, Kaeru-kun."

Kakashi, on the other hand, was a different matter.

"Hey." Kaeru just gave the man a lazy wave. He felt a bit like Shikamaru, but he was still unsure of what he was supposed to call the man who had taught him and didn't even know who he was.

At the sound of his name, the three genin turned around to face the taller boy.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii!" shouted Naruto enthusiastically.

Kaeru smiled at the sight. Sakura, feeling herself included in Kaeru's good mood, smiled back and nodded a silent greeting to her teammate's relative. Sasuke merely took to staring at the redhead. Kaeru wasn't sure if the Uchiha was glaring or just observing. But observing would probably be a good guess after Kaeru had fought—or taught—Sasuke to within one punch yesterday.

"Guess what!" Naruto demanded. "We finally got a cool mission. I'm so gonna kick ass. Just watch me, nii-san!"

Kaeru grinned. Oh, he was watching, all right.

"Stupid brats."

The simple grumble was enough to snap Kaeru's head around to face the older man who stood in the doorway, holding a half-drained sake jug in one hand. Kaeru's eyes widened briefly then narrowed in realization. Naruto's first "cool mission" would also be the first time he saw someone die in front of his eyes.

"If you wanted someone stronger, you shoulda paid for a higher-ranked mission, Ojiji." Kaeru folded his arms across his chest firmly.

Tazuna's eyes widened nervously as he glanced at Kaeru before he looked back at the genin team that was supposed to keep him and his bridge safe. Suddenly, Tazuna scoffed.

"As long as they can get me to Wave Country in one piece," Tazuna began then trailed off.

"Doesn't sound too hard." Kaeru smirked at Tazuna's obvious discomfort. Then, the redhead noticed Kakashi's eye on him. He snapped his mouth shut suddenly; there was no reason for him to give Kakashi more reason to be suspicious of Kaeru.

However, if he could get Kakashi to be suspicious of Tazuna, maybe he would exercise a little more caution on this mission. Or maybe he had just made the man paranoid and Kakashi would drop the mission as soon as the Demon Brothers showed up.

"Kaeru-kun."

Another voice from inside the office gained Kaeru's immediate attention. He glanced past Tazuna to where Ebisu stood in front of Sarutobi's desk. Kaeru gave both of the men a nervous smile before he entered the room, leaving Team Seven and their dubious C-ranked mission on the other side of the door.

* * *

Sandaime puffed at his pipe as Kaeru entered the room with a slightly sheepish look. Over the days that Kaeru had been living with Naruto and working as a Konoha genin, the Hokage had noticed more and more traits that the two boys seemed to share. They both had a healthy disrespect for authority, according to Ebisu. They both would look guilty when confronted by someone they _did _respect, such as Iruka or the Hokage himself. Either Naruto had some common personality traits with his cousin or Kaeru was basing his performance as a spy on Naruto's behavior. Both were possibilities, but Sarutobi found himself wishing that the former would be the true reasoning.

"Um, hi, Hokage-sama," Kaeru greeted the old man uncertainly.

Hiruzen smiled around the stem of his pipe. The redhead's sheepish behavior was also something he had in common with Naruto. The old man supposed that a summons from the Hokage for no apparent reason was a bit intimidating, but he wanted to keep a close eye on the boy as well.

"Good morning, Kaeru-san." Sarutobi gave the young man a brief nod. "I have noticed that you have completed a number of mission competently. And Ebisu-san has commented on your hard work."

"He has?" Kaeru raised one eyebrow at the shinobi in sunglasses who stood in front of the Hokage.

Sandaime found Kaeru's disbelief interesting. Ebisu had expressed his dislike of his assignment; watching over Uzumaki Kaeru prevented him from watching Sarutobi's honored grandson. But the jounin had noted that Kaeru took all assignments without complaining and finished any task quickly. Plus, the ANBU that Sandaime had charged with watching Kaeru in his off-duty hours had reported nothing of significance. Kaeru would take time to instruct Naruto when he could, but he rarely socialized with anyone else.

"Perhaps a chuunin would be willing to take you as a partner or apprentice," suggested Sarutobi. With Kaeru working as an apprentice, whoever his master was would have ample opportunity to observe the boy. Sandaime was already considering several jounin he could ask to ply their trade as chuunin for this particular assignment.

"What about Team Seven?"

Kaeru's suggestion cut into the Hokage's plans suddenly. He glanced over the young man and noted the way he kept one hand tucked into his pocket while the other gloved hand scratched at the back of his neck.

"I kinda overheard the old man complaining as he left," Kaeru explained with a jerk of his head towards the door behind him. "Maybe an additional older genin would help to reassure him, Hokage-sama."

"You want to take the escort mission with Team Seven?" confirmed Sandaime.

Kaeru nodded and met the Hokage's eyes with a cerulean gaze.

"A C-rank mission would be better pay than just being an apprentice," Kaeru noted. His eyes fell to the floor as he shrugged. "Besides, I haven't gotten to spend that much time with Naruto. With all the missions we both take."

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and exhaled a small puff of smoke. Kaeru had a point about the pay; the general income of an apprentice would be conditional on how many missions he took. But the Hokage was more concerned about Kaeru's other excuse. Sandaime knew that Kaeru spent every night with Naruto, sometimes even more of the day if Team Seven completed their missions early. The redhead could be using the escort mission as an excuse to get out of the village and spend some time with Naruto exclusively. But then again, Naruto was Kaeru's only family here, if his story was to be believed, and it was natural that Kaeru would want to get to know his cousin as much as possible.

Kaeru's most recent behavior also came into play. Kakashi had reported that Kaeru had visited his team yesterday and started to spar with his genin. Hiruzen was less surprised with the fact that Kaeru had been teaching Naruto than with Kakashi's report of the redhead's spar with Sasuke. Whether family or spy, Kaeru would want Naruto to be stronger. But the spar with Sasuke made no sense to either possibility. If Kaeru was a spy with the purpose of gaining the loyalty and strength of Konoha's jinchuuriki, why would the strength of the last Uchiha matter to him? On the other hand, given how much Naruto complained about Sasuke, why would Kaeru want to _help _his cousin's rival? Putting Kaeru on Team Seven temporarily could be a mistake. Or it could be a rare chance to discover Kaeru's intentions, especially if he was under the watchful eye of Sharingan Kakashi.

"Very well." Sandaime made his decision. "I shall inform Kakashi to expect another member on his team tomorrow."

Kaeru broke into a genuine smile with a hint of relief behind it. This assignment was important to him.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." The older genin nodded briefly at the old man, a poor excuse for a bow, but one that was common for ninja who learned not to take their eyes off anyone who could whip a kunai from a holster in a second.

Sarutobi nodded back as he watched the boy turn and leave. Danzou was right. He was getting soft in his old age. He truly wanted Kaeru to be Naruto's family. He wanted Kaeru to want Naruto to become strong for his own sake, not for the purpose of being a weapon. He wanted the village of Konoha to recognize Naruto for what he was: a young boy who carried a burden that he had had no choice in and yet burned with the Will of Fire that had shone so brightly in the Yondaime Hokage. Sarutobi Hiruzen opened his mouth and breathed out a ring of smoke towards the ceiling. Perhaps it was time to start thinking about retirement. Again.

But first he had a jounin to summon to inform him of the slight change in the parameters of the escort mission he had just been assigned.

* * *

A/N: I know I'm late, I know I'm late. I am profoundly sorry. I blame my own patheticness. Apparently, it is impossible for me to refuse an extra shift at work, so I ended up working a lot more than I thought I would last weekend. On the plus side, my paycheck should be nice and fat this month.

I know Tazuna doesn't show up until the end of the chapter, but I wanted Kaeru to have some interaction with Team Seven before he starts diving in and changing what he knows is going to happen. Of course, with the changes will come some stuff he's not prepared for, so _now_ things are going to get interesting.

At least, that's the plan.

If anyone notices something wrong, please point it out. Especially with my honorifics. Obviously, I don't speak Japanese, but I do try to do my research. As far as I know, -nii is just an informal way of referring to someone close to you or related to you (like when Naruto calls Kaeru "Kaeru-nii"). I think the honorifics make more sense in Japanese than their English translations do, so I'm trying to be as faithful as I can.I will try to be back to my (semi-) regular schedule of an update every two weeks with the next chapter, but I make no guarantees.

Sincerely,

Fia


	8. Chapter 8

Nara Shikamaru leaned against the counter and listened to his new teammate rant.

"And now I'm going to smell like smoke every time we have to be with our sensei," continued Yamanaka Ino from her place behind the counter. Her brow was furrowed in concentration and her eyes blazed. "Sasuke-kun isn't going to want to be with a girl that smalls like cigarettes. How am I supposed to win his heart now? That forehead-girl already gets to spend time with him because they're teammates!"

Shikamaru couldn't really care less about Asuma-sensei's smoking habit. He was already counting himself lucky that he had gotten put with a sensei that was lazy enough to play shogi with him, even if the man always lost. Shikamaru suspected that Asuma kept asking his student for a game just to observe him. One of the first things that Asuma had done with his team, after they had passed his personal test, was to test Shikamaru's IQ. Shikamaru had always known that his intellect was one of the highest among his peers, and the final resulting number meant little to him. It was just one more thing that got in the way of his cloud watching. And now he was forced to listen to Ino complain about her distinct lack of a love life when he was supposed to be telling her that she was late for the team meeting.

"Tch, troublesome," Shikamaru sighed to himself, not really caring if Ino heard him or not.

Unfortunately, he was also quickly learning that _all _troublesome women had naturally sharp ears.

"What did you—" Ino turned onto her genin teammate and glared at him with all the strength of a woman ignored. Only the faint sound of the shop door opening saved the Nara from brutal questioning.

"Hello, may I help you?" inquired the twelve-year-old blonde with a sweet smile.

Shikamaru shook his head and wondered, not for the first time either, if Ino's mood swings could be attributed to some kind of henge or just plain female hormones. The redhead who had just entered the flower shop rubbed one hand against the back of his neck.

"Aah, I need some flowers," he remarked unhelpfully. "I'm not sure what kind."

Shikamaru studied the new arrival to the store, even though he was supposed to be admonishing Ino to hurry up and meet the rest of their team. The redhead looked about seventeen or eighteen, and he was dressed like a shinobi in plain, dark clothes. However, the only form of identification he had was the hitai-ate around his arm and the holster on his right thigh. No vest meant that he was probably a genin, if not an older one. His eyes focused on Ino instead of wandering the store in search of his flowers.

"Well, what do you want to say?" Ino moved out from behind the counter as the ninja continued to stare at her. She flitted among the displays of flowers and vases that peppered the store. "A chrysanthemum means 'you are a wonderful friend,' and a gardenia is for a secret love."

The shinobi watched her for a while before his eyes slid over to regard Shikamaru. The first thing the genius noticed was that this ninja's eyes were not quite the same shade of blue as Ino's. Ino had sky blue eyes; the redhead's eyes were more like the ocean. Especially as he stared at Shikamaru warily, as if he expected the Nara to do something. Shikamaru frowned. He hadn't seen this ninja around Konoha before, but that meant little to nothing, considering the size of the hidden village. Suddenly, the customer turned back to Ino.

"Do you have any that mean 'goodbye'?" he asked calmly.

Ino stopped fiddling with a pair of daffodils and looked back at the young man.

"Goodbye?" she repeated confused.

Shikamaru wasn't surprised at Ino's outburst. Ino, in her state of Sasuke-fangirl-ness, thought that love was the most important thing in the world. Not to mention the only reason someone would buy flowers.

"It's for a memorial."

Shikamaru watched Ino's face fall into a mixture of embarrassment and sympathy only slightly slower than she had morphed from anger to welcoming when the man had first come into the store.

"Oh," murmured Ino quietly. "I'm sorry."

The teenager smiled; a comforting, understanding smile that belonged on someone like Sandaime, not a genin.

"You didn't know," he excused her easily.

Ino nodded then silently turned away to pick up another bouquet. The strange customer glanced back at Shikamaru with that same expectant look. Like he wanted to say something important. Shikamaru considered glaring suspiciously at him until he just spat it out until he realized that glaring would take too many muscles.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru summarized the entire situation succinctly. To his surprise, the older genin broke into a wide grin and shook his head as if reliving an inside joke.

"Hey, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru looked to the door of the shop and met the gaze of his rotund friend. Chouji was standing in the open door, waiting expectantly for his best friend and the girl they were both unfortunate enough to be placed in a team with.

"I think Asuma-sensei's getting impatient," the Akimichi announced a little worriedly.

Shikamaru nodded. Chouji was always more of a peacekeeper than Shikamaru was, if only because the Nara simply preferred to ignore the conflicts around him rather than spend the energy trying to resolve them.

Shikamaru turned back and opened his mouth to tell Ino to hurry up. His words caught in his throat silently when he saw the shinobi in the center of the store stare at Chouji dangerously. He didn't look threatening, and he wasn't radiating _saki_ as far as Shikamaru could tell. But the redhead was staring at Chouji as if he were scared of the new genin. Shikamaru knew plenty about appearances and the ability to deceive; he knew that most people didn't find Chouji that intimidating. But then he saw the brief but intense flash of pain that crossed the blue eyes before vanishing behind tired eyelids, and Shikamaru came up with a different hypothesis. Maybe whoever the shinobi was visiting had been an Akimichi.

Except as far as he knew, everyone in Chouji's family was still in Konoha.

"Here you go." Ino's bright voice made the shinobi turn, a smile pasted onto his face a little too quickly to be real.

Ino held out a bouquet of carnations, wrapped in a pale paper, to the red-haired nin. The older teen tucked his hands in his pockets and brought out a handful of coins.

"Oh, I just have enough for one, but thanks." He deposited the coins on the counter that Ino stood behind.

Shikamaru watched carefully as the coins clattered onto the counter. The young man was right; he didn't have much money. It might get him a couple daisies, but not the bouquet that Ino was currently offering. Ino glanced down at the handful of coins in front of her before smiling at her customer.

"No, you're wrong," she protested. "That'll get you two." Gently, she plucked out two carnations from her carefully prepared bouquet and held the flowers out for the blue-eyed man. "Here."

The customer stared at the flowers for a moment as if he wasn't sure what to do with them. Then, abruptly, his shoulders slumped as he sighed deeply.

"Liar," he accused softly. But he took the two carnations from Ino's surprised fingers. "Thank you."

As Ino nodded, still looking a little unsure of a man who would call her a liar and thank her in the same breath, the man turned away and headed out of the flower shop. Chouji released his hold on the door and stepped inside to allow the shinobi room to pass. A pair of deep blue eyes followed the boy's movements sharply, but then the redhead nodded once at Chouji. Shikamaru couldn't tell if the gesture was meant as a greeting or a thank you for getting out of his way. Chouji apparently didn't understand either and frowned at the man's back as the door swung shut behind him.

"Do you know him?" Shikamaru demanded of his friend.

Still frowning, Chouji shook his head vigorously.

"He was lookin' at me weird, wasn't he?" The round boy looked to his friend for confirmation, a little wary of the answer.

Shikamaru didn't say anything, just stared out the door where the ninja had disappeared through. Then, he glanced back at Ino, surprised to find her with a thoughtful frown on her face.

"I wonder who the flowers were for," she questioned in a far more uncertain voice than Shikamaru had ever heard from the blonde.

Maybe it was the surprise of finding that Ino could be sympathetic when called to, but Shikamaru didn't immediately dismiss her speculation as "troublesome."

"Shinobi die every die," was his more morbid response. "It's a dangerous profession."

Ino's eyes flashed briefly as she turned back to her teammate.

"Why are _you _shinobi, then?" she demanded. "Wouldn't it be too much work for you to stay alive?"

Shikamaru rolled his head back on his shoulders as Ino called for her mother to take over the shop, since she had to work with her team in order to capture Sasuke-kun's heart.

"Troublesome."

* * *

Kaeru held the two flowers cautiously by their stems as he threaded his way through the trees that surrounded Konoha's Memorial. He had no idea what he was doing. Then again, that seemed to be the state of mind that Kaeru usually worked in, so it didn't particularly bother him. He had always been singularly minded. Before, his goal was to kill Danzo's ally so that his friends could take back Konoha. Now, his goal was to make Naruto stronger so that Danzo never had a chance to take Konoha in the first place. This was just something he had to do in order to accomplish that.

Kaeru emerged into the open field peppered with stones that marked sites where fallen shinobi lay as well as memorials for the instances where there had been no bodies _to _bury. He hadn't been here in a long time. Not since Konoha fell, and probably before, seeing as he was busy trying to find a way to keep his precious people alive. He was a bit unsure of where to go, but he found excess thought unnecessary as his feet carried him forward until he found himself facing a large, upright stone with three short, squat poles behind him.

He had always wondered if those poles had any use other than tying up loud-mouthed, wanna-be genin so they could actually see what the future would hold for them.

Kaeru swallowed, working his saliva down his dry throat, and reverently placed the two long-stemmed flowers in front of the memorial stone. He straightened and tried to tell himself that the gesture meant something, all the while knowing that he was lying to himself. This name didn't hold any of the names that he wanted to say goodbye to. It couldn't; they were all still alive.

Kaeru stood, unsure if he should bring his hands together in prayer or just leave them by his sides in fear of offending the spirits or whoever was in charge of these things. He settled with stuffing his hands back in his pockets as he stared at the stone. If he looked hard enough, he could almost see their names.

_Akimichi Chouji_. Killed by Juugo during the fall of Konoha. _Maito Gai_. Sacrificed himself for his most exuberant student, who had been caught by Pein's strange power during the first attack on Konoha. _Hatake Kakashi._ Gave his life performing the Shiki Fuujin on someone who should have been dead already. _Haruno Sakura. _Kaeru squeezed his eyes shut just to keep from reliving it all.

"I'm sorry," Kaeru murmured. He clenched his fists in his pockets and felt his fingernails dig into the flesh of his palm. "I'm sorry. I won't forget you. I promise."

He already knew that he couldn't just let himself forget what he had seen. He couldn't let himself forget what had happened to his precious people because he wasn't strong enough. If he let himself forget, he couldn't do anything to change it. And it _needed _to be changed.

"But I have to protect them," he continued speaking to the stone, fighting the burning behind his eyes as well as the tightness in his throat that threatened his vocal cords. "I have to. You know."

He could almost imagine Shikamaru or Kakashi-sensei nodding solemnly. They had understood his need to protect those precious to him. And now his precious people were all short, inexperienced genin. Not even the twelve-year-old Shikamaru had questioned him for looking at his teammates suspiciously. They _needed _protecting.

That was why he had to say goodbye. He needed to make Naruto, as well as his teammates, stronger. He couldn't afford to get caught up in what he left behind. Konoha was here and alive. That had always been his belief. As long as he had Konoha, he had a reason. And the definition of Konoha had become quite loose in Kaeru's mind.

_"Is it true?" The dark-haired chuunin asking the question leaned in closely to his lighter-haired companion. "The Hokage is dead?"_

_There was still some confusion after the sudden retreat out of Konoha after the last remnants of Akatsuki had attacked it. Like Pein's attack, the fight had been destructive; nearly a third of the hidden village had been left in flames. Some of the fires burned black and refused to be put out with Suiton or Doton jutsu. The hasty retreat had been only half followed, mostly by the teenagers that currently surrounded the older genin, murmuring amidst themselves._

_"Yeah," the light-haired chuunin murmured back, shock and despair still evident in his voice. The attack had only been one day ago._

_Meanwhile, his companion scoffed._

_"If the position is open, maybe we should nominate the Kyuubi brat."_

_The words had scarcely left his mouth when the chuunin suddenly found himself fighting a leather gloved-hand wrapped around his throat and a pair of flashing green eyes spitting flames at him._

_"Say that again," the kunoichi commanded in a dark voice that almost mirrored her master's. "I dare you."_

_Wide-eyed, the chuunin sucked in enough oxygen to see that the med-nin wasn't the only one who was furious at him. The Inuzuka boy had bared his teeth at the chuunin and looked ready to tear his throat out if the girl didn't beat him to it. The Hyuuga branch member, the supposed genius of the clan, had turned his doujutsu on the man. And on top of all that, there was the pink-haired girl in front of him who looked ready to drive her fist through his skull. All because he had made a joke about how much that _kid _had declared that he wanted to be Hokage._

_"It's okay, Sakura-chan," a tired voice interrupted the scene with surprising calmness. _

_Uzumaki Naruto sat on a rock jutting up from the ground, his hands braced on his knees and his head hanging down so that his chin rested on his chest. A roll of bandages covered his right arm from his shoulder to his fingertips, and a thick patch of gauze was taped to his left cheekbone._

_"It doesn't matter," Naruto declared. _

_His friends knew about the Kyuubi. Heck, _everyone_ knew about Kyuubi. After Pein's attack on Konoha and the resulting deaths, Naruto felt responsible for not getting there in time. He had explained to his friends, in no uncertain terms, exactly why Akatsuki was after him. Those who hadn't guessed the secret already had taken the news surprisingly well._

_"We have to get someplace safe," announced Shikamaru suddenly._

_A lit cigarette hung from his loose lips, a small habit that was fast becoming one of his normal features. The serious, almost blank, look on his face was also a new addition, courtesy of the loss of his teammate and best friend. Chouji had declared that he would be able to hold his own against the original cursed seal victim, a man from Sound named Juugo._

_Like the last mission against stronger Sound nin, Chouji had promised to catch up with his teammates; unlike the last mission against Sound nin, Chouji hadn't survived his defeat._

_"I hear Suna doesn't like the new leader of Hi no Kuni very much." Kakashi's orange book was noticeably missing from person, but then again, so was his jounin vest. Some things had to be left behind in the evacuation._

_Kakashi glanced over at his students. Sakura, despite Naruto's admonition, was still glaring at the chuunin who had murmured the first word about Kyuubi. For his own part, Naruto seemed still stuck in his dazed state where he sat. Kakashi said nothing, nor did he try to comfort the boy. Losing a teammate was hard._

_Losing a brother was harder._

_"That's our plan, then," Shikamaru declared firmly. "We'll find medical attention there and plan a counterattack."_

_"Counterattack?" the dark-haired, dubious chuunin snapped suddenly. "Are you nuts?" _

_He ignored the dark glances he was getting from the Rookies and stood. Only a few years older than most of them, he was still old enough to remember the end of the war. Attacks and counterattacks only meant one thing. Death._

_"Konoha is controlled by ROOT," he felt the need to remind his sudden audience, "and we're traitors for ever running away in the first place."_

_They were dead either way. Couldn't go back to a Konoha controlled by Danzo; the leader of ROOT did not like traitors, or indeed anything he deemed to be a danger to the village. And if they ran, they only confirmed that they were traitors._

_Suddenly, the blond ninja woke from his perpetual stupor and glared at the chuunin._

_"I would never betray Konoha," Uzumaki Naruto declared emphatically._

_"According to Danzo, you just did," snapped back the chuunin. He ignored the blond slowly advancing on him and continued, "You left the village, and now you're planning an attack on Konoha—"_

_The blade appeared within the space of a blink, coming straight for his eyes. With hardly enough time to duck, the chuunin closed his eyes tightly and flinched. He felt something strike him, turning his head violently to one side, but there was no spatter of blood and no pain._

_"This _is _Konoha!" Naruto shouted, still holding a kunai backwards in one hand, with the point edging at the thin skin of his wrist. "As long as my precious people are still alive for me to protect, they'll be Konoha for me." _

_The boy gestured to the people surrounding him: ninja he had grown up with, sensei who had taught him, people whose minds he had changed by sheer willpower if nothing else. All their eyes were on him. For once, he had their complete attention._

_"Konoha isn't a place." Naruto's eyes were blazing, but they remained blue. All the determination with none of the fox. "It's here and alive, and it's going to get our village back." _

_Naruto turned his back on the shinobi he had attacked and awkwardly slipped the kunai back into the holster on his right leg._

_"You don't like that plan, go back to the other traitors," he ordered firmly._

_The chuunin glanced at his light-haired companion as the others around them started to gather their things together. He watched his friend's eyes travel to the band around his forehead and lifted one hand cautiously. The pad of his finger traced a deep groove straight across his hitai-ate and through the Leaf symbol in its center. Naruto had never been aiming at _him_. He had just taken the power upon himself to declare his tormentor a nuke-nin of Konohagakure._

A soft set of footsteps in the grass suddenly woke Kaeru to his true surroundings: hands in pockets, standing in front of the memorial stone, saying goodbye to his old precious people in favor of helping his new ones.

"You're a little late for the mission, Kaeru-kun," Kakashi spoke from behind the redhead.

"So're you," murmured Kaeru. He couldn't turn and face the man, not with his emotions so close to the surface. He rubbed his thumbs across his knuckles in his pockets. "What are you gonna say? A black cat crossed your path?"

In the silence that followed, Kaeru realized that he supposedly had only met Kakashi twice: once for his spar and once when he was late for Team Seven's meeting. Neither time had provided one of Hatake Kakashi's dubious excuses. Kaeru tipped his head back to glance at Kakashi out of the corner of his eye.

"Naruto complains about you a lot." Kaeru hoped his white lie wouldn't get Naruto in trouble, but it was the simplest explanation he could think of off the cuff.

Kakashi did not look impressed. Caught with a past that Kaeru refused to forget that had turned into a future that he never wanted to see, Kaeru swallowed nervously and turned back to the stone.

"What's your excuse, then?" Kakashi demanded in an indulgent tone, like he was teasing Kaeru.

"Had to say goodbye," Kaeru explained shortly.

Kakashi stepped up to stand beside Kaeru's left side so that his exposed eye could study the redhead.

"I wasn't aware you knew any Konoha shinobi," remarked Kakashi.

"They're not here." Kaeru was quick to explain. At least he wasn't lying. "This isn't where they're buried, but . . . I couldn't think of anything else."

Kakashi didn't respond after that. Kaeru stood frozen, wondering if Kakashi was going to continue the interrogation or if he had escaped for now. Dammit, his stupid genius of a teacher was going to make him paranoid before he even started this mission.

"Well, perhaps we should get to the gate before Naruto decides to take the mission on himself," Kakashi announced suddenly.

"Yeah."

The mission. Kaeru still wasn't sure how he was going to keep from messing the whole thing up. He couldn't take care of everything on his own. If Naruto never saw someone willing to sacrifice everything—in both Sasuke and Haku—Kaeru didn't know how he would grow up. Or if he would even learn the lesson that some things were worth dying to protect. Even if it wouldn't make a difference.

But, Kakashi was already turned toward the main gate and waiting for Kaeru expectantly. With his hands still in his pockets, Kaeru lowered his head and led the way out of the memorial field, keeping his eyes on the ground so he wouldn't have to meet Kakashi's gaze. His goal was still simple: keep the promises here that he had always failed to before. What was done was done; and there was work to do.

* * *

Sakura glanced at Tazuna as he stood nervously in front of Konoha's main gate. Her sensei was late again, and she was worried that the old man from Wave Country would change his mind and demand a _responsible _guard instead of her team. And to top it all off, Tazuna wasn't even the most annoyed at Kakashi's tardiness.

"Argh!" Naruto growled loudly in frustration. "I can't take this anymore!"

He threw his hands up at the sky, pinning it with a glare as if the heavens could make Kakashi appear instantly. When that didn't work, Naruto huffed and went back to what he had been doing: pacing.

"He's always late," Sasuke noted. He seemed just as ticked off as everyone else, if Sakura was reading his hunched over shoulders correctly. But Sasuke had spoken without being asked a question, and that was more than what Sakura usually managed to get out of him.

"What do think his excuse is this time?" She gave the dark boy a tentative smile, hoping she could keep the conversation going.

"I had to pick up another brat." A surprisingly familiar voice answered Sakura's shy question.

Sakura turned at the same time as Sasuke to look back towards the village of Konoha. Their gray-haired, masked sensei was walking casually down the street, followed by a serious-looking redhead.

"For the last time, Hatake, I'm seventeen," muttered Uzumaki Kaeru.

While Sakura still stared, Naruto leaped in front of her and waved vigorously, all traces of frustration gone from his demeanor.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii!" he called even though his cousin was a merely two meters away. "This is your mission?"

"Surprise." Kaeru gave Naruto a crooked grin.

The brief exchange made Sakura wonder if Kaeru had talked to Naruto about coming on his mission along with him. She glanced over at Sasuke to see if he was just as suspicious. Sasuke, however, seemed to have forgotten that Sakura was even there. He was staring exclusively at Kaeru, like he was trying to burn a hole into Kaeru's head.

Sakura pressed her lips together and worried that Sasuke had just found someone else to pay more attention to than his own teammates. She knew that Sasuke had a goal to kill someone who had once made him cry, but now he was looking at Kaeru like _he _was the one Sasuke had to kill. Sakura hoped that he was just angry at the older boy for challenging him.

"Don't worry, gaki." Kaeru waved one hand in the air lazily. He seemed oblivious to the tension surrounding the genin team as he smiled reassuringly at Naruto. "I won't steal your thunder. I'm just here to reassure Mr. Paranoid over there."

Kaeru jerked one thumb at Tazuna, who had remained silent throughout the conversation. Tazuna looked away, a little guiltily, and his hands twitched as if he wanted something in them. Probably his sake.

"Well, shall we go?" Kakashi suggested, his mask shifting as his one uncovered eye crinkled into a smile.

A brief shrug that readjusted the small pack on one of Kaeru's shoulders was the only acknowledgement the redhead gave to the jounin. Kaeru started down the road immediately, followed by an eager Naruto who was demanding to know why Kaeru hadn't said something about this mission last night. After a dubious glance at the cousins, Tazuna followed after them.

"Why is he coming?" Sasuke demanded of Kakashi as the last three members of the team took up the rear.

"Hokage-sama thought that someone a bit taller than you would help to convince Tazuna-san that Konoha is capable of protecting him," Kakashi answered, uninterested but honest.

Sasuke didn't reply but clenched his fists by his sides and marched down the road without looking to his right or left. Sakura frowned at him, a bit annoyed. But she continued down the road by his side. If Kaeru could keep Naruto occupied, the day-long journey to the port city would be her best chance to get Sasuke alone. True love would prevail!

Now if she could just think of a way to get him to say more than four words at a time.

* * *

Kaeru laced his fingers together and braced his hands at the back of his neck as he gazed up at the cloudless sky. He and Naruto were leading the group down the road with Tazuna behind them. They had only been walking for a couple of hours, but Sakura had already expressed her concern about leaving the village, being only genin with a doubtful sensei to watch over them. Well, she hadn't actually said the "doubtful sensei" part out loud, but Kaeru had seen her glance at Kakashi as if she didn't believe the man was actually a jounin. Kaeru smirked. Sakura would probably be surprised at what the Copy-nin Hatake Kakashi was really capable of.

"Hey, have you ever been to Wave Country, Kaeru-nii-san?" demanded Naruto suddenly. The blond had taken it upon himself to keep the conversation going. Or maybe he was just curious about his cousin. Their lately nightly conversations had mostly been about Naruto's team and how he was going to get stronger and what Kaeru was going to teach him that night.

Kaeru tried to grin, but it turned out as more of a pained smile.

"Once," he answered truthfully. "A long time ago."

Tazuna, Inari, Zabuza . . . Haku. He was going to see them all again. Kaeru's stomach was already twisting painfully, and he couldn't tell if it was from his seals slipping as they always did or from the added anxiety of seeing someone he cared for die again. He liked Haku. He had been telling the truth when he had first said that they probably could have been friends if Haku wasn't trying to kill them.

"I've never even been outside Konoha," Naruto announced. He had a bounce in his step that made it look like he was skipping down the road. "Do shinobi get to travel a lot? You've been to a lot of places, right, nii-san?"

"Yeah." Kaeru nodded absently. "Scenery can be pretty cool. The desert's always changing."

He remembered learning to walk on the shifting desert sands and scowling at Gaara when he had stumbled for the fifth time in the sand that just seemed to slip over his ankles whenever he tried to plant his feet.

"And Kumo's got some interesting mountains."

He remembered dashing across the open fields and valleys—Kaminari no Kuni didn't have many trees for traveling—chasing Akatsuki chasing Sasuke chasing him. Always reaching for something, for _someone_, and never catching.

"People are pretty much the same, though," murmured Kaeru, vaguely aware that he had caught Tazuna's attention by now as well as Naruto's. "Same hopes and dreams. Same pain. It's part of the Rules."

Hadn't he seen himself in Haku, in Gaara, in Sasuke, and a dozen others who had known the pain of being alone? Of being hated? Kaeru suddenly became aware of the silence that had descended on the party and glanced over his shoulder. Nervous at the slew of faces that he found staring at him, Kaeru picked the easiest target.

"Something on my face, Uchiha?"

Sasuke scowled from his place beside Sakura and in front of Kakashi, but the boy seemed to recover quickly, carefully tipping his chin up and peering at Kaeru from behind his dark curtain of hair.

"You should tell us your strengths, Uzumaki," Sasuke noted in a commanding voice that seemed to old for the youth of his pitch. "We've never worked with you before."

"Very considerate of you," Kaeru muttered before Naruto could spit back a retort. Then he caught a glimpse of Sakura's temper flash in her bright emerald eyes. He had forgotten that she held the temper in her youth as she always had. She just had a sweet smile to hide it behind until she got her confidence up and started knocking her teammates over their heads when they were being stupid.

"Sorry," murmured Kaeru with his eyes on the ground. He paused just long enough to fall into step with Tazuna; he could see his compatriots better just by turning his head a little and it was important to gage their reactions. "I suck at genjutsu. Always have."

Perhaps it was foolish to tell them one of his weaknesses so easily, but it wasn't like it was his greatest secret.

"I'm pretty good with taijutsu, but then you knew that." Kaeru dared to glance at Sasuke again, amused to see the annoyed glare that was shot at him.

"Where did you learn, Kaeru-kun?" Kakashi interjected. "Your style is very unique."

Kaeru's amusement disappeared as he looked over his shoulder at Kakashi, who was taking up the rear of the party. Kaeru was willing to bet Tsunade's necklace—if he had still had it—that "unique" would be the last word Kakashi would choose to describe Kaeru's taijutsu style. It was a conglomeration of things he had learned in his travels with Jiraiya and his wonderings after Konoha fell, but underneath it all the basics were entirely Konoha.

"Picked up some things when I was traveling," Kaeru answered with a shrug. "Kinda learned from whoever was willing to teach me. Besides, I was trying to stay alive. Not like I had any choice _but_ to learn."

The words almost caught in his throat. He hated lying. He wanted to tell them about Jiraiya, about the old pervert who had become a cross between a fun uncle and the closest thing Kaeru had for a father. But he couldn't. He _couldn't_.

"Ninjutsu's my specialty, I guess," he concluded when he could speak again. Between his own demands to learn new jutsu every chance he got and his own attempts to create new ones whenever possible, Kaeru had always considered ninjutsu his strength. It left him in a bind with his suppressing seals, but hopefully he would be able to find a way around that.

"Hey, so you know a lot of cool techniques, right, Kaeru-nii?" Naruto piped up again.

Kaeru gave the boy a wanna-know-a-secret smile and ignored the audience he knew he had.

"Wanna know my best one?" he asked eagerly, leaning in close to his cousin.

Naruto nodded vigorously and stretched his head forward to hear the super secret Uzumaki technique.

"Kage Bunshin." Kaeru stood up straight again, pleased with himself as he saw Naruto's shoulders slump dejectedly.

"That's not a kick-ass jutsu," the blond complained as he jumped over a small puddle in the road to avoid getting his feet wet.

"Ha," Kaeru laughed loudly and stowed his hands back in his pockets. "You have no idea."

If everything worked out well, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu would once again become Naruto's strongest technique. It was how he had learned Rasengan, how he had come up with the Fuuton: Ransenshiruken, and it was the only way he had any allies in his later fights. With him, a one-on-one fight could suddenly become a one-on-one hundred fight. Kaeru was about to explain the many benefits of Kage Bushin to Naruto when a thought suddenly connected in his mind with all the force of getting zapped with a Raikiri.

Small puddle. Middle of road. Cloudless sky.

Kaeru stopped walking and spun around to face Kakashi suddenly. But the jounin's eye looked as lazy and unconcerned as ever. Kaeru frowned first at Kakashi then at the puddle that now lay behind the party.

"Something wrong, Kaeru-kun?" Kakashi asked innocently.

Kaeru turned his confused eyes from Kakashi to Sasuke. Something had happened. He knew something was supposed to happen, but he couldn't remember what. Something had happened before they had first encountered Zabuza. Something with Sasuke involved.

"Great, another dobe," sneered Sasuke when Kaeru's gaze remained fixed on the Uchiha.

_"Are you hurt, scaredy-cat?"_

Wide-eyed, Kaeru saw Naruto jump in front of him and open his mouth to defend his cousin; or to curse out Sasuke at the top of his lungs, but probably both. Beyond the squabbling boys, Sakura scowled at the scene while Tazuna looked at the boys hopelessly. Kakashi was just smiling as if everything was as it should be.

As if he didn't notice the two heads rising from the puddles behind him.

"Don't!" Kaeru suddenly snapped and grabbed Naruto's collar with one hand, jerking him back to his side.

Naruto turned his scowl up to the taller boy before he froze suddenly. Kaeru ignored Naruto's fright and watched as a chain flew up from the strange puddles and wrapped around Kakashi as his genin looked on in shock. Kaeru thrust his hand into the holster strapped to his leg and fingered two kunai. But as the shinobi wearing Kiri hitai-ate and strange masks over their noses and mouths emerged fully from their hiding places, Kaeru felt an inexplicable reassurance. Kakashi didn't die here. He would never die to shinobi stupid enough to hide in a puddle when there hadn't been any rain in days.

So when Kakashi's body was torn to pieces by the chain that stretched between the Kiri shinobi, Kaeru was the only who didn't cry out.

"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted Naruto in a mix of desperation and disbelief.

"What!" Sakura's cry was sheer panic.

Even Sasuke allowed himself a surprised grunt and turned his attention exclusively on the confident shinobi.

"One down," whispered one of the Kiri ninja. The chain whipped through the air between the dark-haired enemy nin as they turned to their next target.

Kaeru brought out a single kunai and took in the scene quickly. He saw one of the shinobi's gaze flicker towards him briefly. They probably thought he was more of a threat, being older. But they kept with their original target and went straight for Tazuna.

"Stay back, sir!" Sakura ordered as she shakily drew a kunai and prepared to meet the coming attack.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried once he realized what was happening, but Sasuke was faster.

Suddenly, the Kiri-nin found their weapon pinned to a tree with one of Sasuke's kunai. The short genin gave an almighty leap and planted his foot in the side of the nin's head.

"One to go," muttered Kaeru from the other nin's side.

He gritted his teeth and plunged his kunai into the man's chest. Unfortunately, Sasuke's kick forced the nin's compatriot to smash his head against his partner's. The force of the blow was enough to jerk Kaeru's opponent closer to him and cause the kunai to slice through the man's arm instead of his heart as originally intended. Kaeru grimaced at the mess. The brats were going to have to work on their teamwork.

Kaeru's opponent stumbled backwards, dropping his end of the chain to clutch at his new wound. His comrade lay sprawled on the road, blacked out from the force of a heel to his temple. Well, at least Kaeru didn't have to kill him. He took up a position directly in front of Sakura with Sasuke at his right. A huffed panting and a glimpse of orange from the corner of his eye told him that Naruto had come around to his left. Kaeru smirked triumphantly at the single opponent. _Now_, they looked like a team.

"Bastard!" Naruto shouted accusingly. "Who the hell are you?"

"Step aside, kiddies," sneered the ninja. His voice sounded muffled and slightly distorted from beneath the bulky mask that he wore. "And maybe you'll get out of this alive."

"Like hell!"

Kaeru gripped Naruto's shoulder silently, his fingers digging into the familiar orange jumpsuit that covered the bony shoulder. Something was wrong. The battle shouldn't be lasting this long. Where the heck was Kakashi?

* * *

A/N: Yay, my first cliffhanger. Kind of. My chapters have been getting progressively longer with each one that comes out, and I didn't want to give you guys too much to chew on, so I tried to find a good break in the action. I think this works. Please don't rant about my choice of stopping point or confusion about changes in the fight scene with the Demon Bros. I promise the rest is coming. If you're still confused after the next chapter, you have my permission to rant.

I did also try something different with the flashback scene: inserting it directly into Kaeru's scene without line breaks or any kind of disconnect besides the italics. Feel free to tell me what you think; if you like it or hate it or really have no preference. I've already said that is my gunea pig, so I welcome suggestions and criticisms.

And on the note of the fall of Konoha: I knew that guy was evil, I knew it! So, Kashimoto might come up with something slightly different than I did, but I'm still proud of my foreseeing abilities. Sorry, I'll stop with the spoilers, now.

Sincerely,

Fia

P.S. Over 200 reviews from only seven chapters? Man, I love you guys!


	9. Chapter 9

Kakashi crouched on the tree branch he had found for his perch and studied the battle below him with an intensity borne of living through three years of war and seven years of ANBU duties. Thus far, his students were winning.

Not that such a revelation surprised Kakashi. Whoever the two ninja from Kiri were, they couldn't be of a very high rank. Sasuke and Kaeru's combined efforts had already rendered one of them unconscious, and the other was simply staring warily at the ginger ninja in front of him.

"Sakura," Kaeru called without taking his eyes off the Kiri-nin. "Keep your position. There might be more. Sasuke, make sure that guy doesn't get up."

Kakashi noted the commanding tone of Kaeru's voice as well as the way his own students were obeying the redhead. It could have been simply because Kaeru was now the oldest, and supposedly the most experienced, of the team. But that didn't explain how Kaeru had fallen into a leadership role so easily. He claimed that he had been wondering alone, without companions, for years. He wouldn't have needed to know how to work on a team, much less how to lead one.

As Sasuke knelt to bind the unconscious Kiri-nin with a length of rope, Kaeru and Naruto faced down the last opponent. Kakashi wondered if this was part of Kaeru's strategy. He knew that Kaeru had been teaching Naruto, as both Ebisu and the ANBU that watched the boy when Kaeru was off-duty had reported. But the older genin hadn't done much with taijutsu other than that fight that Kakashi had walked in on, and that was against Sasuke, not Naruto. Either way, Kakashi had a perfect opportunity to observe Uzumaki in combat, and he wasn't going to come out until he was good and ready.

Kaeru flipped a kunai into his hand and glared at the enemy. He flicked the weapon at the man's head, but the Kiri-nin dodged the projectile easily, making Kakashi think that the kunai wasn't meant for anything other than to get the ninja moving. In response, the Kiri-nin charged for his two opponents and extended his uninjured arm, the one that was encased in a thick gauntlet that ended in a cruel-looking set of claws. Knowing Kirikugare's fascination with assassinations, Kakashi guessed that the claws were poisonous as well.

"Naruto, left!" Kaeru suddenly shouted.

Obedient to the call, Naruto launched himself to the left as Kaeru took off towards his right. With his two targets splitting up, the Kiri-nin was forced to make a choice. He apparently decided that the older shinobi would also be the most dangerous and curved his weapon-clad arm to his right, chasing after Kaeru. Kaeru waited until the last minute then let his body fall backwards. He caught himself with one hand planted firmly on the ground as the claws sailed over his head. As one leg swept towards the shinobi's leg, Kaeru grabbed the man's armor-covered arm and twisted. Hard.

The force of the pull carried the masked shinobi into Kaeru's kick, forcing Kaeru's foot to connect with the side of his enemy's knee, while, at the same time, Naruto leapt above the ground and drove his heel into the other side of the targeted knee. The Kiri-nin suddenly found his knee caught in a vice of two vicious kicks.

The Kiri-nin cried out in pain. One of his arms was now dripping blood, and Kakashi wouldn't have been surprised if the patella was completely shattered. It was impressive that Naruto—whether through instinct, observation, or simply training with his cousin—had aimed for the same place as Kaeru had. In a way, Naruto and Kaeru made as impressive a team as Kaeru did with his clones. However, with the Kiri-nin kneeling in the center of the road while Kaeru and Naruto stood over him, the battle was decidedly over. Kakashi wasn't going to see any more—

"Are there others?" Kaeru suddenly demanded of the bleeding ninja. His voice was hard and cold and left Kakashi in no doubt that Kaeru had lived through enough missions to know how to guarantee information from a captured enemy.

"A true Kiri shinobi never gives up anything to the enemy," declared the dark-haired man who had just been trying to kill them.

Kaeru pulled back a kunai and held it backwards, with the point facing his wrist as the blunt end served as the main weapon. He swung the weapon hard against the man's temple, no doubt trying for physical intimidation. However, Kaeru seemed to misjudge either the power of his own blow or fortitude of the Kiri-nin. The dark man's eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped forward into unconsciousness. Kaeru simply stared at his handiwork, confused, and blinked twice before he recovered.

"Shit," he swore in frustration.

Kakashi supposed that this was as good a time as any to reappear. Besides, he needed to keep _someone _alive to answer his questions.

"Really, Kaeru-kun, is that any kind of language to use around children?" he asked with a happy lilt as he jumped out of the tree and reappeared in the road behind Kaeru.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried in obvious relief.

Facing Kaeru's back, Kakashi could see Naruto's face brighten obviously at the sight of his sensei. Kaeru just folded his arms across his chest and turned with an annoyed look on his face.

"Took ya long enough," Kaeru muttered. "You couldn't have come out _before _the two guys decided to attack your students?"

The fact that Kaeru wasn't surprised to see the jounin could mean that he had sensed Kakashi's presence in the tree. Then again, the short, stout logs that dotted the road instead of Kakashi's guts were a pretty obvious hint as well.

"Well, you seemed to have a pretty good handle on the situation," Kakashi responded easily. It was easy by now to play the part of a lazy-ass who wanted to get out of as much work as possible. As long as he kept people's expectations of him low, he had a better chance of surprising them should they ever turn out to be his enemies.

Kakashi glanced around to take stock of their situation. Sakura stood in front of Tazuna, still slightly tense from the battle. Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed completely calm. The unconscious Kiri-nin had his hands tied behind his back with Sasuke's foot pinning his face to the ground. Naruto was bouncing slightly on his heels; the boy's endless energy would probably come in handy in battle if he ever learned the proper way to utilize it.

"How did you know their intentions?" inquired Kakashi suddenly.

"What kinda shinobi hides in a puddle when it hasn't rained for three days?" Kaeru rolled his eyes.

Kakashi lifted his eyebrows slightly in interest. That would explain Kaeru's sudden nervousness right before the attack. He had sensed something out of the ordinary, but it was strange that he hadn't come to the right conclusion until after the attack had started. And he had immediately gone to protect Naruto.

Sasuke suddenly drew a kunai and positioned it threateningly at his unconscious captive's throat, just next to his jugular.

"Don't bother, Sasuke." Kakashi waved one hand lazily. A sleeping man couldn't answer any of their questions.

A civilian, though, was far easier to intimidate.

"We have another source of information," Kakashi announced as he advanced onto Tazuna with a friendly smile that didn't match his tone of voice. "Apparently, Tazuna-san does not think it is dangerous to lie to shinobi about the potential enemies they face."

Tazuna's eyes widened as his throat worked convulsively.

"This has now become a B-ranked mission," noted Kakashi, pleased at the obvious nervousness that Tazuna displayed.

But the bridge builder was not the only one contributing to the increasing tension in the air surrounding the small genin team and their client. Kakashi's single eye traveled calmly to where Kaeru stood in the middle of the road. The redhead's expression was impassive, but Kakashi could feel the nervous energy radiating from him. It could have been the adrenaline leftover from the battle, but Kakashi wanted the opportunity to make sure. And if he could sweat out Tazuna at the same time, he considered it a good plan.

* * *

Kaeru took a deep breath and curled his hands into fists to conceal the fact that they were shaking. He could easily recognize the symptoms of adrenaline working its way out of his system, but it hadn't been that big of a fight. Truthfully, his shaking could probably be only half-blamed on adrenaline. The rest of it was anger, both at Kakashi for taking so long and at himself for knocking out the Kiri-nin when he hadn't meant to. Kaeru sighed and took several deep breaths through his nose as he watched Naruto shot a triumphant grin at Sasuke, who was still holding down the down-and-out ninja from Mist.

"The best thing would be to return to Konoha," announced Kakashi.

Kaeru's eyes snapped up in surprise at Kakashi. He hadn't really been paying attention to Kakashi's mutterings, assuming that Kakashi would do the same thing he had always done and continue with the mission because anyone who had been training under Namikaze Minato was simply too noble to let people down who needed help.

"What?" Kaeru snapped, his eyes flashing as he faced the jounin.

He knew it was probably a mistake to challenge Kakashi, especially when he was angry. Kakashi still thought Kaeru was a spy, or at least an unknown. He couldn't help it. This mission was important. Not only because Naruto had things he needed to learn, but Kaeru couldn't imagine leaving Tazuna and Inari and the rest of Wave under Gatou's rule. But now, Kaeru's muscles were tense, and his eyes were flashing like lightning, focused entirely on Kakashi.

"Kaeru-kun, we're not ready for this kind of mission," protested Sakura in a pleading voice. "We're not supposed to take B-ranked missions; we're only genin."

"We can keep going." Kaeru's anger faded into a soft frown and he glanced at Sakura curiously.

Sakura was nervous, that was obvious from the way she rubbed her hands together in front of her chest. Kaeru's frown shifted from Sakura to Sasuke's stoic expression to Kakashi's apparent indifference. He remembered getting injured last time, that had been the argument used for going back to Konoha: the loser Naruto had needed medical attention. But they were all okay now.

"Am I the only one who saw this time kick ass?" Kaeru demanded hotly.

Naruto shot his hand up into the air eagerly with a large smile. Kaeru only saw the boy from the corner of his eye in his determination to make Kakashi see his point.

"Okay, Sakura could work on her offense a bit," Kaeru admitted as he shrugged, not even pausing to acknowledge Naruto.

Naruto put his hand down as quickly as he had raised it and Sakura's cheeks turned a pale shade of pink at Kaeru's observation.

"Hey, Sakura-chan did good," protested Naruto loudly. "She was protecting the old drunk."

Kaeru shifted his attention from Kakashi to Naruto. The boy was frowning at his older cousin, not glaring but he was obviously displeased with Kaeru's choice of words. Kaeru flinched under the accusing gaze. He knew how important Sakura-chan was to Naruto, maybe even better than Naruto knew yet, but he also knew how much stronger Sakura would get. There was no reason for her not to start early.

"Still, we don't know the whole situation," Kakashi mused into the silence that followed Naruto's proclamation.

Kaeru frowned at Kakashi. Why was he hesitating? He didn't know anything about Zabuza yet, no one was injured, and his team had actually done a darn good job against their first enemies. Heck, he even had Kaeru along to make sure that Naruto— Kaeru's eyes suddenly widened. That was why. Because _he _was with them. Kakashi didn't want to get too deep into a sticky situation with a ninja who might be a danger to Konoha as well as to his team directly. Kaeru gritted his teeth and turned to pick up his pack where he had dropped it to fight.

"'To abandon one's duty is not courageous. Beneath the courageous, there is nothing.'" Kaeru's gaze was one of pure determination when he looked back at the Copy-nin. "Didn't Yondaime Hokage say that?"

Kaeru watched Kakashi's eyes carefully; after all, his sensei had been the one who first quoted Yondaime's rhetoric to Kaeru. But Kakashi retained his look of indifference, although it was hard to read a man who only let one lazy eye show. To Kaeru's slight surprise, Naruto turned in step with Kaeru and faced Kakashi, his glare matching his cousin's as he tried to stare his sensei into agreement. Kakashi simply let his gaze wander from his students to Tazuna and finally to Kaeru. Then, he lifted his shoulders in an uncaring shrug.

"All right," he acquiesced. "I guess we'll continue."

Kaeru gazed thoughtfully at Kakashi for a moment. He hadn't actually expected the jounin to cave so easily. He was going to have to be a lot more careful on this mission than he first anticipated. Then, Kaeru felt the familiar prickle at the back of his neck that told him someone was watching him. He tensed for a brief moment before he noticed Naruto staring at him, beaming wide and proud. The older Uzumaki smiled suddenly and winked at Naruto.

That decided, Kakashi seemed to get to business right away. With Kaeru and Sasuke's help—after a small push from Kaeru—Kakashi quickly tied both the unconscious ninja to a large tree by the side of the road and turned back to his client.

"Tazuna-san," began the jounin in a strictly no-nonsense voice, "tell us exactly why these ninja are after you."

The old drunk's mouth wavered a bit, but he seemed more sober now than Kaeru had ever seen him before.

"It's because of my bridge," answered the old man. "Wave isn't a very wealthy country. Most of the income we get comes from the shipping business. Building a bridge to the mainland of Hi no Kuni would make it possible for more people to trade goods and travel freely."

Kaeru remembered that bridge. It had still been standing last time he was in Konoha before everything burned. Had a good name, too.

"But because I'm building the bridge, my life has been targeted by the owner of the shipping company." Tazuna lifted his eyes to the gray-haired man he was addressing. "You probably know his name: Gatou."

Kaeru frowned. He remembered Gatou, too. A part of him wanted to just break off from the mission and murder the guy in his sleep, but there were two things wrong with that idea. For one, he wasn't sure what the effort of killing Gatou now would do to his seals or his ability to control them. For another, if he killed Gatou, Naruto would never meet Zabuza and Haku, and he would never learn the price of being a ninja, of what his dream might cost him.

"I've heard of him," Kakashi acknowledged. "He's one of the few wealthy people in the world."

"Yes," Tazuna agreed nervously. "Most of his wealth has come from his shipping company. It's the only way to transport goods around the islands or to the mainland. He also works in smuggling items on the black market or bringing in illegal items."

"So, you're his competition," ventured Sasuke. "He wants to stop you from building the bridge so that he can keep his monopoly."

"Yeah." Tazuna nodded.

Naruto huffed suddenly and shot a glare at Sasuke and his obvious show-off attitude. Kaeru looked down at the boy, realizing that Naruto probably hadn't understood the implications of what Gatou was doing or how he was hurting Wave Country. He'd have to fix that soon. Naruto always, _always_, fought better when he was doing it for something worth fighting for. Rule number one had always been Haku's: people were at their strongest when protecting someone precious to them.

"Well, what're we waiting for!" Naruto demanded as he started down the road again.

"Idiot," scoffed Sasuke.

Naruto bared his teeth at his largest—and basically only—rival.

"He's got a point," Kaeru noted calmly before the two boys started launching into insults. "If Gatou's rich, he'll be able to hire more skilled assassins than these two."

He finished by nodding at the Kiri-nin lashed to the tree. Kaeru looked up to Kakashi, who hadn't moved throughout the explanation.

"We should get to Wave as soon as possible," said Kaeru.

Kakashi simply nodded once in agreement.

"Naruto and Sasuke will take point," he commanded, for once sounding like the superior officer that he was. "Kaeru and Sakura will be in charge of protecting Tazuna, and I'll be the rear."

Kaeru nodded. Kakashi was putting himself in a position where he could keep an eye on his whole team, providing no one came up from behind them, but Kaeru wasn't worried about any enemies other than Momochi Zabuza at the moment. Naruto walked forward determinedly with Sasuke trailing after him with a decidedly stoic expression on his face. Sakura's lips were pressed tightly together as she took one side of their client. Kaeru hoped that he hadn't offended her with his comment on her fighting skills. His Sakura would have bashed his head in for even thinking such a thing, but this Sakura was far too timid to try it.

Kaeru shrugged on his pack and started walking on Tazuna's other side. He flexed his fingers in their gloves and looked down at his right hand suddenly. He had just realized that fighting the Demon brothers had been the second fight since this whole mess started that he hadn't felt his seals hurt him even once. They were fine when he was sparring Naruto and Sasuke, and he hadn't felt any backlash during the brief bout on the road. He quelled the hope he felt rising from his lungs. It might not mean anything. He _had _been trying to be careful about his use of chakra, and the scrimmage against the Demon brothers wasn't even that serious. Still, the fact that something could be different about his seals wasn't the kind of fact that could be ignored.

* * *

Naruto craned his neck, trying to see his surroundings, but the mist that surrounded the boat the genin team and Tazuna were scrunched into was too thick to see anything.

"Naruto, settle down!" Sakura snapped in a harsh whisper. "You're rocking the boat, idiot."

Naruto's shoulders slumped heavily as he sank back into his seat. Sakura had somehow gotten a seat at the front of the boat with Sasuke while Naruto sat behind them with Kaeru. Tazuna and Kakashi were lined up behind them, and a thin man with a pointed bamboo hat stood in the back of the boat, pushing them forward with a long pole.

Naruto folded his arms testily and glanced around at the people in the boat, at least that was more interesting than a bunch of water no one could see through. His gaze fell on his cousin, and he paused seriously. Kaeru was staring at his left arm, curling and uncurling his fingers in a fist like he was making sure they worked properly.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii, you okay?" Naruto asked, keeping his voice low. If Kaeru's arms were bugging him, he didn't want anyone else to know about it. Not yet, anyway. He didn't want his teammates to think that his cousin was something to be feared.

Kaeru's eyes lifted to look across to Naruto, and he smiled reassuringly.

"Yeah." Kaeru shook his hand out and brought it to rest on his knee. "Don't worry, gaki. I've got my stuff in my bag if something happens."

Naruto worried his bottom lip in between his teeth as he frowned. If something happened . . . that wasn't really a good thought, considering that Kaeru had once said that his seals were what kept the demon in him from killing him. Naruto glanced at his teammates in the front of the boat. Sakura was too busy blushing at Sasuke to notice anything wrong with Kaeru, and Sasuke looked like he was trying really hard to ignore Sakura, so Kaeru's secret was safe for now.

"Naruto," Kaeru called.

Naruto's head snapped back to his cousin, his eyes wide to prove his determination to pay close attention when he saw the serious look in Kaeru's eyes.

"Do you know why it's important to protect Tazuna from Gatou?" queried the older boy.

Naruto perked up with interest. This sounded like one of Kaeru-nii-san's tests to see how much Naruto knew. Well, he could pass this easy.

"'Cuz that's the mission," declared Naruto, a little louder now that they weren't discussing secret seals or demons. "And a Konoha ninja never abandons the mission!"

Yondaime was just about the coolest Hokage in the history of Konoha. Naruto had always thought that, ever since he had been old enough to hear the story of Yondaime's last stand against the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That respect and awe hadn't diminished when Naruto found out that the Kyuubi wasn't actually dead. In fact, it might have increased. Yondaime didn't just die in a mighty battle; he sacrificed himself in order to protect his village. That must be harder, Naruto thought, to know that the only way for someone else to live was for you to die. Besides, Naruto didn't really blame the man for picking him to be the container. He supposed that it had to be _somebody_, and Naruto was at least glad that no one else had to go through what he did in Konoha.

So, upon learning that Yondaime Hokage, the coolest Hokage in Konoha history, had never abandoned _his_ duty, Naruto wasn't about to abandon his. And it was his duty to get Tazuna home safely, despite stupid shipping guys trying to kill him.

"Quiet, up there!" snapped the man at the back of the boat. "You want someone to hear us?"

Naruto flinched at the sharp reprimand as well as the glares that his teammates shot him. Sheesh, it wasn't like he was _trying _to get them all killed.

"Good answer," Kaeru leaned over and muttered proudly at his cousin. "But there's more to it."

Naruto's attention was once again on Kaeru, so curious that he didn't pay attention to Sasuke and Sakura listening in.

"Gatou controls all the transportation in Wave Country, so people have no choice but to go to him," began Kaeru. "That means that he can set the prices however high he wants. Like, he could charge someone twice as much as other people just because he doesn't like the guy."

Naruto frowned. He knew what that felt like. When he had first gotten his apartment and started going to the Academy, he went to the closest grocer for food. He watched an older lady in front of him pay for a loaf of bread, but when he stepped up to pay for his things—which mostly included instant ramen and all the makings for sandwiches—the guy behind the counter named a price that was at least three times as much as he had charged the old lady. It made more sense now that he knew why the guy had done that, but at the time he had been lucky enough to discover Ichiraku Ramen.

"And since he smuggles stuff in, he controls the underground market," the redhead continued, "people who sell stuff illegally, ninja for hire doing bad stuff. He gets rich, but he keeps everybody else poor."

Naruto cocked his head in thought. So the guy was rich. Rich people were generally snobs in Naruto's experience, so the guy had two things against him already: he was a snob, and he was trying to kill Tazuna.

"People are scared of him, so they don't do anything to stop him or change their lives." Kaeru's gaze drifted to the bottom of the boat with his eyes half-closed in thought. "Leaders should never rule by fear. Makes people hate you."

Naruto swallowed nervously. He wanted to be Hokage so that people would acknowledge him. So that people would see him and respect him. He still wanted to be Hokage; his role as the container for Kyuubi had only strengthened that goal. But the last thing he wanted was to accomplish his goal, to become the strongest ninja in Konoha, and to have everyone still hate him. That would be worse than never getting the hat at all.

"You speak from experience, Kaeru-kun?" Kakashi asked from behind Naruto.

Naruto twisted around to look at his smiling sensei. Kaeru just glanced over his shoulder calmly.

"I've seen both extremes," he replied. "People'll die for a leader they love and one they fear, just for different reasons. One out of loyalty and the other because there's no damn alternative."

Kaeru hung his head again, staring at the wooden bottom of the boat.

"I've even seen a leader who loved the village so much that the_ leader _was the one who died for it."

"Where was that?" asked Sakura curiously.

Kaeru tilted his head up, looking surprised that the girl had actually spoken. He remained in that state for several moments, until Naruto was about to repeat the question. He wanted to know the answer, too, after all. Then, Kaeru's gaze turned blank as he replied:

"Konoha."

Sakura frowned at him curiously while Naruto hung his head and prayed no one was looking at him as he clutched the fabric of his jacket over his stomach. _Yondaime_.

"We're getting close," the boatman announced into the mist. "We should be able to see the bridge soon."

Naruto shook off thoughts of sacrifices and demon foxes and glanced up, staring through the mist. After a few moments, the heavy air parted slowly to reveal a towering support leading up to a giant structure. Naruto gaped silently, remembering the need to be quiet. The thing was huge! They could probably fit the whole Academy on the bridge and still have room to walk around either side. Beside Naruto, Kaeru craned his neck up as he stared and let out a low, impressed whistle.

"Nice bridge, old man," he commented softly. A puzzled frown suddenly crossed his face as he continued to stare at the bridge. "How many people you got working on it?"

"About fifty," replied Tazuna. "It's almost half the village. Why?"

"Just wondering," Kaeru responded and dropped the subject.

The boatman commented that they were going to take a route with lots of vegetation or something. Naruto didn't catch the whole plan, but he began to understand when they sailed silently through a wide tunnel. It was like a secret passage to the other side. When they broke out into sunlight again, the mist was gone and the water in front of them was dotted with short, fat trees that grew right out of the water.

"Wow," breathed Naruto.

He smiled, fascinated by something so different than anything he had seen in Konoha. Kaeru-nii-san was right. Scenery was cool.

* * *

Kaeru once again walked beside Tazuna as the team started down the road for Tazuna's house on the outskirts of the village. They had disembarked in general silence, except for Tazuna's admonition to get him home to his daughter and grandson safely. Even Naruto was strangely serious about the mission. Part of Kaeru was worried that he might have made too great an impression on the boy, but he ignored that part in favor of keeping all his senses trained to pick up any sign of a certain eyebrow-less nuke-nin from Kirikugare. That was the greater danger just now.

"You seem tense, Kaeru-kun," called Kakashi from the rear of the party.

Kaeru glanced over his shoulder to see Kakashi's smiling face. He was starting to get an idea of how Kakashi's enemies felt when they faced the Copy-nin. That single crinkled eye that hid a smile when there was really no cause to smile was kind of unsettling.

"Understatement of the year, Kakashi-sensei," Kaeru muttered back. He rolled his shoulders back and stuck his hands in his pockets out of habit. "I guess I'm just nervous about what happens next."

"What _does _happen next?" was the obvious follow-up question, so Kaeru had at least anticipated it.

"That's the problem." One side of his mouth lifted into a knowing smirk. "I don't know yet."

He sighed and paused long enough so that he was walking in step with Kakashi, leaving Tazuna's protection up to Sakura.

"Someone stronger than those two back there will probably take their place." Kaeru jerked his head backwards to indicate the road where they had left the Demon Brothers. "So, a chuunin at least, maybe a jounin."

"What rank did you say you held in Whirlpool?" Kakashi interrupted suddenly.

Kaeru looked up to meet Kakashi's eye. It was a valid question, and probably meant either to confirm Kaeru's story or to trap him in his own lie.

"I've only ever been a genin," answered Kaeru seriously and without hesitation. "Same as your students, Kakashi."

There were certain benefits to hiding the truth within a lie. It made explanations a little more complicated, but at least Kaeru didn't feel so guilty.

Kakashi's sudden glance to the woods surrounding the road disrupted Kaeru's thoughts and put him on guard instead. Kakashi had always been better than him at sensing chakra. Someone was close by.

"There!" Naruto shouted abruptly from his place at point, flinging a kunai into the underbrush in front of him.

As soon as a loud _thunk_ signaled the kunai connecting to its target, Naruto rushed forward eagerly to see what he had caught. Sasuke followed the blond a few steps behind while Sakura withdrew a kunai and stood in a defensive position in front of Tazuna. Kaeru nodded in approval. Sakura hadn't even chewed Naruto out for his sudden shout. The kids were taking this _very _seriously now.

However, the mood vanished when Naruto pulled a tearfully scared and shaking white rabbit out of the bushes.

"Oh, just a bunny," the genin noted in wonder.

"Naruto no baka!" Sakura stomped the ground furiously. "Don't scare me like that. Look what you did to the poor thing."

Sasuke smirked as Naruto tried to comfort the rabbit, which by this time seemed to want nothing more than to be out of the arms that were currently trying to smother it with reassuring love. But Kaeru just frowned as the ambient noises of Team Seven faded. There was something wrong with that rabbit. He couldn't remember what, but there was something wrong—

"Naruto, forget the bunny," Kaeru snapped as soon as he realized what was off.

"Huh?" Naruto just frowned, his arms slacking almost in reflex. "Why?"

"It's white." Kaeru stepped forward just far enough to stand beside Tazuna. "To match the snow."

"What snow?" demanded Naruto.

Kaeru just gave the boy a 'no kidding' look.

"It's a decoy," Sasuke finally realized.

Kaeru noticed the _whoosh_ of the blade almost the same time as Kakashi did, but the jounin was faster in his warning.

"Down!" Kakashi commanded.

Kaeru grabbed the back of Tazuna's shirt and yanked the bridge builder to the ground as he used the other hand to shove Sakura out of the way. Naruto dropped the traumatized rabbit and fell on his stomach with his hands covering his head in an instinctively protective position. Sasuke leapt backwards and used his hands to drop into a low crouch. Kaeru felt the air above his head part with the force of the zanbato, but he kept his eyes open. The sound of a blade sinking deep into wood signaled the end of the attack, and Kaeru stood up warily.

"So, it seems the old man brought some protection with him."

The man standing on the giant cleaver, using the blade stuck horizontally in the tree as a platform, looked slapped together at best. Bandages wrapped around his nose and mouth, and his forehead was noticeably bare except for a crooked hitai-ate high on his hairline with a deep, straight scratch through the symbol for Kirikugare. He had no shirt, just a couple leather straps that looked like they were holding up his high pants, and a pair of arm guards that reached above his elbows.

Kaeru saw Naruto and Sasuke scramble to their feet and stare at their new opponent, one in hesitation and the other suspiciously guarded. Now on his feet, Kaeru placed himself between the nuke-nin and Tazuna as the old man helped Sakura up.

"Copy-nin Kakashi," Momochi Zabuza acknowledged the masked Konoha ninja making his way to the front of the party. "Sorry, but the old man is mine."

* * *

A/N: I rewrote and reread this thing about three times, and it's still a bit short and a day late (which is also the title of a cool song by Anberlin, but moving on). I got a lot of people begging that I not kill off Kakashi after the ending of the last chapter. I'm almost disappointed that you think I _would_, especially given the most recent chapters of the manga. Kakashi is one of my favorite characters, even if he is hard to capture well. Sadness.

Anyway, I didn't leave you in the middle of a battle this time, so something to look forward to. Expect the next chapter in three weeks, unless I suddenly have lots of free time and inspiration).

Sincerely,

Fia

P.S. The quote from Yondaime is actually canon. Kakashi says it to Tazuna when asked why he decided to continue the mission. I just figured, given Naruto's hero worship of the man, he would know something like that as well.


	10. Chapter 10

Kaeru stared at Zabuza, struck by the strange thought that the nuke-nin had looked much taller in his memories. Then again, the genin had also been about six inches shorter at the time.

"You four protect Tazuna," Kakashi ordered with none of his usual 'hip' attitude. "This guy is above any of you."

His orders issued, Kakashi lifted his left hand, wrapped his fingers around his hitai-ate, and shoved it up to his forehead in one swift motion. Kaeru didn't even glance at his sensei to see what he already knew was under Kakashi's headband.

"So, you grace me with the Sharingan." Zabuza showed no surprise, only confidence. "Not that it'll do you much good."

"Sharingan?" Naruto piped up.

From the corner of his eye, Kaeru saw the shorter blond turn to his teammate, confused.

"Hey, isn't that your blood-eye-thing, Sasuke-teme?" he demanded.

Sasuke flinched at the question. It was subtle, but Kaeru caught the movement. He wasn't sure what was going through the Uchiha's head—then again, he never was—but he knew that any questions that either boy had would have to wait.

"Naruto," Kaeru called in a steady voice, never taking his eyes from Zabuza. "Focus on the guy with the giant sword, please."

Naruto snapped to attention at Kaeru's voice, facing Zabuza once again, and Sasuke dismissed any hesitation in favor of scowling at the man who had interrupted their mission. Zabuza just chuckled lightly and brought one hand in front of his bandaged chin.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu."

The fact that Kaeru was expecting the sudden mist that descended onto the road didn't quite prepare him for the sudden chill, a direct result of the strong _saki_ that came with it.

"Heart, head, liver, kidneys . . ."

Kaeru edged closer to Tazuna as Zabuza's voice emerged from the mist, listing off all the targets on the human body that promised an instant kill. Something that every assassin worth his salt would know, not to mention most chuunin or higher. The problem was that his team wasn't chuunin yet.

"Eight points," echoed the voice of the nuke-nin. "Which should I hit first?"

A shaking hand caught Kaeru's attention, and his eyes widened when he saw a kunai turn towards its owner almost involuntarily. He laid his right hand on the boy's shoulder before the killing intent could drive him completely out of his mind.

"Sasuke," he called.

In shock, either from the touch or the sound of his own name, Sasuke looked at Kaeru with his dark eyes wide in near-panic. Kaeru kept calm—it was easier for him; he had dealt with much more dangerous opponents than the Demon of the Mist—and looked directly into Sasuke's eyes like he hadn't been able to for years.

"It's all right," he reassured the genin with nothing but confidence. "Me an' Kakashi'll never let you guys die. I promise."

"You won't be able to keep that promise."

Zabuza was suddenly right in front of Sasuke with his arms cocked back and his sword prepped for a swing. If his stroke followed through with his aim, Zabuza would take off Sasuke's head with one quick motion. Kaeru tightened his grip on Sasuke's shoulder and twisted his body while pulling Sasuke towards him, drawing a kunai with his left hand. With his back facing Zabuza and his body between the missing nin and his teammate, Kaeru raised his short blade just in time to stop the giant blade mid-swing. Kaeru felt the reverberation of metal striking metal travel from his fingertips to his shoulder and turned his head sideways to glare at the man behind him.

"I _never _go back on my word," he spat out firmly. It was one thing that he refused to change about himself. All the lines that Kaeru refused to cross were mostly the ones he had drawn for himself.

Before either Kaeru or Zabuza moved out of their stalemate, Kakashi intervened by wrapping one arm around the enemy's neck and holding a kunai to Zabuza's throat, the weapon resting gently on the jugular. Kaeru watched Kakashi slide his blade swiftly across Zabuza's throat, only to have the man's body shift into a column of water that held its form briefly then crashed to the ground.

"Mizu Bunshin," Sasuke identified, apparently out of his slump.

Of course it was a water clone. There was no way Zabuza was going to make things that easy for them. Kakashi turned around quickly and scanned the area for the real body while Kaeru shifted his kunai to his right hand and stepped up to stand beside his sensei. The only acknowledgement he got was a glance from Kakashi's Sharingan.

"Don't push it, Kaeru." The lack of any honorific from Kakashi worried Kaeru more than he thought it would. "This guy is a missing-nin from Mist. Demon Momochi Zabuza."

"Demon?" Sakura repeated worriedly.

Kaeru glanced over his shoulder at his team. Sakura had once again taken her wary position in front of Tazuna, with Naruto and Sasuke on either flank. Both Naruto and Sasuke had weapons in hand and were scanning their surroundings desperately. Sakura still looked a little shaky, but she stood firm.

"So, it seems you've heard the story." Zabuza's voice caught the attention of the Konoha-nin once again. But this time, it only originated from a singular place.

Kaeru looked up. Straight in front of the ill-prepared party, the mist was slowly parting to reveal Zabuza standing on the shores of what looked like a lake. Zabuza didn't seem in a hurry to start anything, which meant Kakashi was free to continue with his explanation.

"Kiri goes through a different graduation technique than Konoha," began the jounin. "In order to become ninja, the students must pass a test. A fight to the death."

Kaeru wasn't really surprised that Zabuza looked like he was actually enjoying the retelling of the story. He knew the value of scaring your opponents shitless before the battle even began. Fortunately, Zabuza didn't know that the story of his nickname was old news to Kaeru.

"One year there was a child who killed over a hundred students. Those who would have been his comrades." Kakashi retained his ready position in front of his students, but he didn't command Kaeru to get back. At least, he hadn't yet. "It was a massacre. He earned the nickname Devil Zabuza."

"I've seen a demon before," Kaeru commented as he glared at Zabuza. "_That_ is just a man."

A man he had previously seen shed tears over someone that he claimed was just a tool. It was another one of the Rules: shinobi always started out as human, and even those farthest removed from that state could occasionally be reminded of who they had once been.

Kaeru brought his hands together and summoned a clone without even naming his best kick-ass technique. The two redheads both shifted into a fighting stance and prepared to charge when a gloved hand suddenly appeared in front of Kaeru's face.

"Don't," Kakashi commanded coldly.

The original Kaeru stared at the jounin while his clone kept an eye—or two—on Zabuza.

"You know I can fight, Kakashi," Kaeru accused the jounin softly. "Let me help."

Kakashi continued to watch Zabuza as Kaeru kept his eyes on Kakashi. Zabuza, for his part, seemed perfectly content to watch the unfolding drama before him. The thought that Zabuza was getting some entertainment out of all this flitted across Kaeru's mind as many of his thoughts did before he found something better, or more important, to concentrate on. And right now, he could think of one last argument in his repertoire.

"I know you don't trust me to protect Konoha," Kaeru admitted. "At least trust me to protect my family."

Kakashi knew the importance of precious people, having already lost his once. If Kaeru could convince him that the redhead lived for _his _precious people, even if Kakashi believed that Naruto was the only one Kaeru cared about, it would be better than having Kakashi believe that Kaeru was nothing more than a spy out for the power a jinchuuriki would provide.

"Don't get caught by his sword," Kakashi suddenly ordered, and Kaeru knew that he had been acknowledged.

"Just keep that eye of yours open, Kakashi-sensei." He couldn't stop the cheeky grin that formed on his face, a remnant of a confident Naruto who fought alongside his sensei against an organization best identified by their black and red cloaks.

Kakashi and Kaeru, together with Kaeru's clone, charged at Zabuza. Knowing that Kakashi needed to see Zabuza's actions if he was to copy them, Kaeru sent his clone onto the lake and around Zabuza's back. As long as he could keep his chakra usage down to his clones and leave the real fighting up to Kakashi, everything should be good. He might even get a chance to prove himself to Kakashi, who might then pass his pure intentions on to Sandaime. If Kaeru wasn't so focused on the fight, he might have actually busted out into a wide grin.

Unworried, Zabuza turned to Kaeru's clone first and lifted one hand to his covered mouth.

"Suiton: Mizurampaa."

The ensuing wave that emerged from the region of Zabuza's mouth hit Kaeru's clones square in the chest and dispelled it before Zabuza turned back to Kakashi and Kaeru. He used his momentum to swing his sword at Kaeru's head. Kaeru ducked under the blade and let Kakashi block it with a kunai. The three ninja traded blows for a while, but Kaeru knew that the water was Zabuza's territory. They needed something to push the battle in their favor. And since Zabuza was sticking to his giant sword, Kakashi couldn't copy any of his jutsu.

Kaeru's good feelings were slowly disappearing. He jumped away from the nuke-nin in the hopes of bribing him with an open opportunity to smack the redhead with a technique that Kakashi would see. Instead, Zabuza froze and fell straight down into the lake, as if he had just released his hold on the surface of the water. Kaeru turned sharp eyes to Kakashi, who looked just as puzzled as Kaeru felt. Winking his right eye closed, Kakashi used his Sharingan to glance around the lake while Kaeru just observed. His eyes went immediately to the genin on the shore.

Sakura and Sasuke stood in front of Tazuna while Naruto still had his kunai out and looked ready to intervene in the battle if he thought he was needed. Kaeru really hoped that Naruto wouldn't be needed. It was mostly dumb luck that his team had gotten through the Wave Mission the first time around: a combination of Zabuza underestimating the genin of Konoha and Haku's reluctance to kill anyone who had a precious person like he did. Kaeru didn't want to press his luck too hard.

Suddenly, Zabuza seemed to rise out of the lake behind Kakashi. Even as Kaeru opened his mouth to warn Kakashi, Zabuza swung his zanbato faster than any human should have been able to wield a sword of that size. Kakashi turned suddenly, but the blade caught his right side and knocked him fifteen yards further from shore. He landed with a large splash that signaled Kakashi hadn't had enough stamina or agility after that hit to catch himself.

"Bastard," Kaeru growled.

Zabuza didn't respond; he just melted back into the water. Kaeru resigned himself to scanning the lake again for any sign of his enemy, all while keeping an eye out for Kakashi. He still didn't know how hard his sensei had been hit. Kaeru's eyes widened at the sight of Kakashi slowly pulling himself onto the surface of the lake as if he was climbing out of a crevasse. Even if Kaeru hadn't remembered what he knew was going to happen next, he remembered enough of Kiri's jutsu to recognize the danger.

"Kakashi!" Kaeru shot forward toward the man. "Get out of the water!"

Bringing his hands together once again, Kaeru created two more clones easily. One of the redheaded figures shot forward with an extra speed born of focusing more chakra than was healthy to the soles of his feet. He grabbed Kakashi by the green vest on his sensei's body just as Zabuza rose out of the water beside them both. Kaeru rolled onto his back on the surface of the water, vaulting Kakashi over his head and using his feet to fling the jounin out of the way.

Kakashi landed in the arms of the Kaeru nearest to the shore, hitting the clone with enough force to dispel it. The clone turned into a cloud of smoke, having fulfilled its purpose of slowing Kakashi's flight enough for the man to land on the ground without too much bruising. The Kaeru left over watched the redhead on his back get to his knees on the surface of the lake as a sheet of water rose from the lake and encompassed him, coming to a point at Zabuza's outstretched right hand.

"Hmm, I suppose you're my conciliatory prize," muttered Zabuza to the genin in his Suirou no Jutsu.

For an answer, Kaeru allowed himself a freedom that he hadn't in years. He stuck out his tongue childishly at his enemy and disappeared with a slight _poof_. Kaeru, still standing on the water halfway between Zabuza and the wounded Kakashi, planted his hands on his hips and smiled triumphantly at the nuke-nin. Kage Bunshin was the best technique ever.

"Not good enough." Zabuza's voice suddenly came from behind Kaeru.

Of course, clones could only get you so far, especially if your opponent could use them just as well. Kaeru only watched Zabuza and his water prison long enough to see the body on the water start to melt back into liquid. He spun around just in time to be faced with another sheet of water, this time utterly trapped. And Zabuza knew it.

"It's no use," commented Zabuza as Kaeru glared at the wall of water. "You can't break through my water prison."

Kaeru breathed deeply and forced his eyes to focus beyond the water to his team still on the shore. Sasuke and Naruto were kneeling on either side of their bleeding sensei while Sakura hung back with one arm held out in an attempt either to shield Tazuna or to stop him from going anywhere. Kakashi seemed on the brink of consciousness, just awake enough to hold one hand to the gash in his side to slow the bleeding.

"Sakura!" Kaeru called firmly. "There's a med-kit in my pack. Get Kakashi and stop the bleeding."

He knew Sakura wasn't the same as she had been, or would be: a competent med-nin who refused to take crap from any wounded teammate. But Kaeru truly believed that Sakura had been that way all along. Tsunade had just brought that side out of her. Or it could have been the betrayal of Sasuke for power. Either way, his command was awkwardly being followed as Sakura, with Sasuke's help, half-tugged and half-dragged Kakashi's body back to where Tazuna waited. Naruto had rushed to the side and was returning with his cousin's canvas pack, rummaging through it as he approached the party.

"Your struggling is pointless," Zabuza declared, holding one hand in front of his chin.

Another Mizu Bunshin slowly rose from the lake, its eyes intent on the struggling party.

"Naruto, Sasuke!"

Kaeru's warning was almost unnecessary. Naruto had already dropped the small box filled with rolls of bandages, gauze pads, and antibiotics next to Sakura and was facing the clone. Sasuke had stepped in front of where Kakashi was trying valiantly to sit up straight and Sakura was trying valiantly to keep him down while she worked. Kaeru saw both boys glance from the clone to Zabuza's true body, catching Kaeru's eye in the process.

"Don't worry, guys." He gave his teammates a confident smirk. "I'll be out of here in a minute."

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much, brat?" Zabuza demanded of his prisoner. He sounded like he was debating between being annoyed or amused. Kaeru tended to have that affect on people.

Kaeru shifted his gaze up to Zabuza, his smirk drooping into a knowing smile.

"Yeah," he replied. "But they're all dead."

That wasn't really true. Most of the people who complained about Kaeru's love of noise because it was better than silence simply didn't exist yet. At least not in the way that Kaeru had last seen them. But it was about time that Kaeru did some intimidating of his own. Besides, he had been in Kisame's Suirou no Jutsu enough times to know how to bust out. He just prayed that his seals would continue to cooperate. It wasn't the demon's chakra he wanted.

* * *

Sakura silently commanded her hands to stop trembling as she pressed another thick sheet of medical gauze into Kakashi's side. Half of her brain was remembering the few lectures and demonstrations they had gone through on first aid in the Academy while the other half was trying to pay attention to her surroundings: Naruto and Sasuke in between her and Zabuza's Mizu Bunshin, Kakashi-sensei breathing heavily as she leaned on his wound, and Tazuna hovering over her, smelling like seawater and sake.

It was wreaking hell on her concentration.

Fortunately, Kakashi seemed to know what she was doing and leaned forward enough so that Sakura could wrap the largest roll of bandages around his torso. He was obviously sweating, but he remained still.

"Hey, is he gonna be all right?" Tazuna demanded in a rough voice.

Sakura didn't even stop working as she shot a glare at their client.

"Look at the babies, pretending to be ninja."

Distracted enough to forget about Tazuna's alcohol-breath, Sakura stared at her teammates worriedly. Naruto and Sasuke were side by side, unmoving in front of Zabuza's clone, which looked murderously amused at the moment. Part of Sakura wanted nothing more than to run the opposite direction—maybe all the way back to Konoha—but her teammates were still fighting. Kaeru was still trapped on the lake, and Kakashi was still under her care.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto's voice was surprisingly serious in a way Sakura had never heard from him, not even when he had been trying to convince his team that his cousin was actually a cool guy. "Listen for a sec."

"You got a plan?" Sasuke demanded in the same tone. Even with his back turned to Sakura, she could hear the smirk crawl into his voice. "Fine, dobe."

Sakura turned her eyes back to her work and kept wrapping her sensei's abdomen in the bandages she had borrowed from Kaeru's pack. She was only half aware of Naruto making five clones and charging at Zabuza's clone while he himself stayed back. Meanwhile, Sasuke dashed to the right, his hand extended to catch the Fuuma Shuriken that Naruto had thrown to him. The Mizu Bunshin easily dispatched Naruto's clones and cleared the smoke away from in front of him only to see a Windmill Shuriken flying directly to his face.

"You're far too obvious," the clone sneered as he caught the large blade in one hand.

Then, Sakura saw his eyes widen when he realized that there was more than one weapon aimed at him. Instead of dodging the Shadow Shuriken, however, the Mizu Bunshin reached out his left hand and caught the second blade. Sakura bit her lip worriedly as she once again considered the possibility of running away. Zabuza already had Kaeru trapped. Kakashi was only just sitting up crookedly. And Naruto's big plan had just provided their enemy with two perfectly good weapons.

Suddenly, the four-bladed weapon in the clone's left hand became enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Sakura's eyes lifted in a surprise that gave her a slight bit of hope, only for it to fail when she saw a grinning Naruto surface out of the haze.

"Surprise!" called the blond an instant before he drove a simple kunai into the arm that held him.

Zabuza's face barely had the time to register his surprise before he melted back into the water. His support gone, Naruto fell into the lake as the orange-clad body still on the shore with Sasuke disappeared. Sakura tied off the bandages on Kakashi's stomach and turned back towards the half-awake man.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she called tentatively.

Kakashi laid one hand onto Sakura's shoulder to brace himself and slowly stood. Sakura nearly buckled under his weight, but she locked her knees and remained still as her sensei stood.

"Thank you, Sakura," murmured the jounin.

Sasuke turned around at the sound of his sensei's voice, and Naruto clambered out of the lake, shaking the water out of his hair as he went.

"Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi called to his students, "good teamwork."

Sasuke sighed and set his shoulders a bit higher in a way that suggested he was pleased with the comment, even if his face didn't show it.

"What about Kaeru-nii-san?" demanded a soaked Naruto. "He's still trapped."

"Kaze Ken!"

The four shinobi on the shore all turned their eyes to the lake when they heard the shout. Kaeru was holding his hand extended in front of him, and a thin blade, colored faintly blue, stretched from his fingers to where he was pointing at Zabuza's side. Sakura watched closely as Zabuza jumped backwards and slipped his hand from the globe of water he was holding together. Zabuza's left hand curled around his stomach to his side and came away bloody. The water prison around Kaeru slowly dissolved as the redhead stood, the blue light still radiating from his right hand.

"Told ya I'd get out, gaki," Kaeru called to Naruto as he held up his right hand.

Was that chakra? Sakura had read somewhere that you could give chakra a shape, but no book or scroll at the Academy had described how to do it. But it looked like Kaeru had simply taken his chakra and shaped it into a blade that was sharp enough to cut through the Water Prison and injure Zabuza.

"Kaeru-nii!" Naruto's shout was one of anxiety rather than relief, and it took Sakura a moment to see why.

Then she saw Zabuza charging for Kaeru's back and tensed as if _she _were the one expecting a blow. Kaeru spun around and blocked Zabuza's raised sword with his blade of chakra. But Kaeru suddenly faltered, stumbling on one leg as he left foot suddenly dipped below the surface of the water. Zabuza pressed his advantage and slammed his foot into Kaeru's stomach. Kaeru shot back towards the shore again and skidded to a halt near Naruto's feet.

"Nii-san!" Naruto called urgently as he hovered over the redhead.

"The stomach, the stomach," muttered Kaeru with his eyes closed tightly. "Why is it always the stomach?"

Kaeru jerked up to a sitting position with one hand behind him to support his weight while the other clutched at his stomach through his dark shirt.

"Stay with the client, Kaeru," ordered Kakashi suddenly. "I'm going to finish this."

Kakashi suddenly disappeared from Sakura's side and reappeared on the surface of the lake, facing Zabuza. Sakura saw Zabuza transfer his sword to his back, leaving his hands free for the next round of fighting. Trusting her sensei to take care of the nuke-nin, Sakura scooped up the med-kit lying on the ground and hurried toward where Kaeru sat.

"I'm fine, gaki," Kaeru was reassuring Naruto as Sakura came closer.

"Are you sure?" It was Sasuke who posed the question, even though Naruto looked just as dubious.

"Gimme a second." Kaeru frowned at the ground, not meeting his teammate's eyes.

He pried his hand from his stomach and studied it curiously, curling it into a fist carefully then releasing his grip just as slowly.

"They're working," he announced with a slight groan. "Hurts like crazy, so they _must _be working."

"What's working?" inquired Sakura.

A loud shout from the lake distracted her. Sakura shifted her gaze back to the battle just in time to see twin dragons of water rise from the lake, one behind each of the combatants, and crash into each other.

"Kakashi's got his Sharingan working finally," commented Kaeru as he shifted to his knees with Naruto's arm wrapped around his neck.

"What is it?" Naruto frowned at the battle.

"The Sharingan is a trait of Uchiha," Sasuke answered coldly. "It can see any method of taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu and copy it."

"So, whatever Zabuza can do, Kakashi-sensei can do?" translated Naruto.

"Yeah, he's had that eye since the last shinobi war," ground out Kaeru. "It's why he's famous. Copy-nin Kakashi."

Zabuza's body flying into a tree beside the road interrupted the sudden conversation as Kakashi landed more gracefully between the nuke-nin and the team of genin. Sakura saw a dark splotch on Kakashi's new bandages and worried that her work hadn't been good enough. Kaeru grunted as he stood up and faced Zabuza with Naruto and Sasuke.

"Your foresight is getting annoying, Hatake," Zabuza growled in a darker tone than the amused sound that Sakura had heard from him before. The missing nin straightened slowly and pushed himself off the tree.

"You want to hear a prediction, Zabuza?" Kakashi ignored Zabuza's irritation and just looked at him with a blood-red eye with three small dots spinning around his pupil. "You're going to die."

No sooner had the words left Kakashi's mouth than Zabuza jerked in his spot, his eyes wide and unfocused. Sakura froze and watched wide-eyed as Zabuza slumped to the ground with at least four round needles embedded into his neck.

"You were right," a light voice came from above Zabuza's suddenly still body. "He died."

Sakura looked up with the others to see a figure crouching on a branch in the tree that Zabuza had hit. The newcomer to the battle wore a white mask with a curved, red line cutting across the mask horizontally where the mouth should have been. The eyeholes were cut like slits and gave the mask the general impression of a smiling spirit. It was a bit unnerving.

"Hey, who's that?" Naruto demanded, jabbing his finger rudely at the masked figure.

Kaeru suddenly let out a rasping cough and hunched over his stomach again.

"Kaeru-nii?" Naruto called worriedly.

"Calm down." Kaeru just laid one hand on Naruto's shoulder and straightened enough to look past Kakashi's back to Zabuza's prone body and the masked figure in the tree. "He's a hunter-nin. They're like ANBU, but their only job is to hunt down and kill missing nin like Zabuza."

"Indeed," the now-identified hunter nin agreed. "Kirigakure has been after Momochi Zabuza for some time now."

Now that the hunter nin was on the ground, Sakura could see the four small lines in the forehead of his mask, the symbol of the Village Hidden in Mist. The ninja also looked like he was even shorter than Kaeru. The hunter nin wrapped one arm around Zabuza's body and lifted it easily.

"And now, if you will excuse me." The masked boy held two fingers in front of his mask where his mouth probably was hidden and disappeared suddenly.

The silence that followed only lasted for about five seconds.

"That guy was like _our_ age!" protested Naruto loudly. "How can he be as strong as ANBU?"

"It happens sometimes." Kakashi sounded extremely tired.

Sakura sighed and started to think that maybe they would be all right now. Zabuza was apparently dead, and everyone was still standing, still breathing.

"All right," Tazuna suddenly found his voice again. "I'm glad I got you guys to protect me."

"Yeah," muttered Kaeru in a low voice, "we're a shitload a' scary."

Sakura turned to frown at Kaeru—partly for his language and partly because she really didn't want to fight with their client anymore. But then, Kakashi fell facedown onto the hard-packed earth of the road.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried desperately.

Kaeru started forward only to stumble on his first step. He caught himself by slapping his right hand onto his knee and supporting himself heavily.

"Kaeru-nii-san, you—"

"I'm okay," Kaeru interrupted Naruto's concern suddenly and continued plodding toward the unconscious man.

Kaeru knelt beside Kakashi and flipped the jounin over to his back. Sakura watched Kaeru pass a hand over her first aid work on Kakashi's side before Kaeru tugged Kakashi's headband back over his right eye so that it sat crookedly on his head as it always did.

"He's just passed out," announced Kaeru after a beat. He looked up to Tazuna. "How far to your house, old man?"

"It's just on the other side of the village." Tazuna gestured weakly down the road. "Is he gonna by okay?"

"I can't do a lot for him," Kaeru answered. "But he'll be better off in a bed than on the road."

Kaeru grabbed one of Kakashi's arms and lifted it over his shoulder before his knee hit the ground hard again.

"I can do it, Kaeru-nii," Naruto declared.

Sakura was impressed. Instead of bragging like Naruto usually did, the shorter boy was simply offering to help out his cousin. She pressed her lips together and watched Naruto make four shadow clones. Two clones took Kakashi's arms and shifted the jounin's weight to their backs while the other two held up Kakashi's legs so that they didn't drag behind him. Maybe Kaeru's presence had made Naruto a little more mature. Just a little. Sakura stepped up as Naruto's clones turned away and started down the road, following Tazuna.

"Do you need any first aid, Kaeru-kun?" she asked softly. But the redhead just shook his head.

"It's mostly chakra exhaustion," he replied, getting slowly to his feet.

Sakura wrapped one arm around his waist to support him as she had for Kakashi before her conscience, which had a tendency to be rather crude and loud, could insinuate anything. Kaeru smiled at her and patted her shoulder. Sakura took it as her signal to let go, biting her lip nervously as she watched Kaeru to make sure he could stand properly. Kaeru scanned the area once, maybe to make sure there was about to jump out at them. Sakura squished the thought down before she jinxed herself; that would be just their luck, with the way this mission was going. Instead, Kaeru let his gaze stop at the dark-haired boy still standing just off the road by the lake.

"C'mon, Sasuke." Kaeru gestured with a jerk of his head.

Sakura followed his gaze and smiled encouragingly at Sasuke. The boy just shoved his hands into his pockets and followed Kaeru's slow steps after Tazuna and Naruto.

* * *

Kakashi woke to the strange sight of a wooden slatted ceiling. He was vaguely aware of his position lying down on a thin mat and covered by a blanket, as if someone had tucked him in. His Sharingan was also covered, and he _knew _he hadn't had the strength to pull down his hi-ate after his fight. Well, at least his students hadn't left him on the side of the road.

"You're awake," a voice noted from beside him.

Kakashi craned his neck, his perception back down to one eye, and took in the small room that housed his bed. Uzumaki Kaeru sat on the floor beside Kakashi's bedroll with his forearms resting on his knees. He looked slightly more relaxed than usual in his regular uniform of a long sleeved dark shirt and his regular black pants, but his weapons holster was noticeably missing from his right thigh.

"Where are we?" demanded Kakashi, slightly surprised that he still had the strength to talk. He already knew that he was suffering from chakra exhaustion and wouldn't be moving for a while. He had used his Sharingan too much in that last battle. Plus, Zabuza's sword had caught him in the side, and while Sakura had bandaged the wound as well as she could, he knew it wasn't enough to hold for long.

"Tazuna's house," Kaeru answered. "You passed out after the battle. I think it was the blood loss plus chakra exhaustion. I sewed up your wound. Sorry, but I don't know any Iijutsu."

Kakashi wondered briefly how Kaeru had made the diagnosis if he didn't know medical jutsu, but then again the gaping wound in his side wasn't that hard to spot. The effort of holding his head up was making Kakashi's head pound with every beat of his heart, and he laid his head back down on the bed while keeping an eye on Kaeru.

"Tazuna's daughter and grandson live here, too," continued the redhead. "Naruto's patrolling the perimeter with his shadow clones, and Sakura and Sasuke went to the bridge with Tazuna to do a preliminary scout. The bridge is wide and open, easy to see an attack coming and defend."

Kakashi blinked once instead of letting his surprise show on his mostly-hidden face.

"Thorough report," was his only remark, but it was an honest one.

In one breath, Kaeru had given him the location of his team, the progress of the mission, and the layout of the terrain with all the professionalism of a soldier reporting to his commander. Then, there had been the way Kaeru fell into a leadership role so easily in the fight against Zabuza. Even while in that water prison, he was barking orders to his team, making sure everyone knew what part to play.

"Are you sure you were a genin?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly.

For a response, Kaeru simply lifted one shoulder in a shrug.

"Only time I took the Chuunin Exams, I failed," he explained. "Never got the chance to take them again. Too busy trying not to die."

Kakashi suddenly remembered Kaeru explaining his strengths to his team. The teenager had said that everyone was fighting, which supposedly explained how he learned taijutsu. It could be, if Whirlpool had been fighting a strong enemy, that Kaeru was forced into a position of more responsibility than genin regularly took on. The jounin made a mental note to research how the village had been destroyed once he got back to Konoha. If they all lived that long.

Suddenly, a short boy in an orange jumpsuit charged into the room, scanning the area once before breaking out into a panting smile.

"Kakashi-sensei! You're awake." A gleeful smile accompanied Naruto's statement.

Kakashi winced under his mask. The boy was almost too free with his emotions, according to Kakashi. It reminded him too much of—

"What's up, gaki?" Kaeru's short question broke into Kakashi's train of thought.

"Oh, Tsunami has dinner ready," replied Naruto, turning towards his brother figure. "You want us to keep patrolling?"

"No," Kaeru answered. "We'll be right there."

Naruto nodded eagerly then turned to leave the room as quickly as he had entered. Suddenly, Kaeru called him back with a brief "Hey!"

"You don't have to tell Naruto everything I say." Kaeru shook his head at the orange-clad boy.

Naruto frowned while Kakashi wondered why Kaeru referred to Naruto in the third person.

"Just dispel," Kaeru instructed with a wave of his hand.

"We can do that?" Naruto—no, Naruto's clone—asked with a puzzled frown.

"Let go of the jutsu, and you'll disappear."

The blond boy frowned then put his hands together and stared at them questioningly. Then he squeezed his eyes shut as if preparing himself for a blow.

"Pop?"

Instead of dispelling with a soft _puff_ of smoke, the body gave a barely visible shudder and returned to stillness. One blue eye opened hesitantly and a pair of hands patted down his body to check that he was still there.

"I guess we'll work on that," sighed Kaeru. He lifted one hand to wave the clone out of the room. "Tell Tsunami-san we're coming."

Kakashi watched Naruto's famously orange jacket disappear out the door as Kaeru remained sitting. The teenager, Kakashi realized, was trying to teach Naruto the finer points of Kage Bunshin. That still didn't explain how Kaeru knew the body had been a clone. Or why he was determined to teach Naruto in the first place. Luckily, Kakashi's face had changed from curiosity once again to indifference by the time Kaeru turned to him.

"Can you walk?" the oldest genin demanded, "or d'ya want your meal here?"

"You seem very concerned with helping my team stay alive, Kaeru-kun," Kakashi remarked instead of answering. If not for the lightly joking tone Kakashi always managed to convey, the sentence would have sounded more like an accusation. Kaeru seemed to read underneath the underneath, regardless.

"I had a team once, too, Kakashi-sensei." The teenager kept his eyes hooded and on the floor in front of him. "I want _this _one to stay alive."

Kaeru braced his hands on his thighs and gritted his teeth together as he stood. It seemed he hadn't escaped injury in his battle with Zabuza, either.

"How did you know Naruto was a clone?" Kakashi inquired. He was in no shape for an interrogation, but curiosity remained persistent.

"He said 'us'," answered the genin. "Not 'me'. I'll bring you up some food, Kakashi-sensei."

The last sentence was shouted over Kaeru's shoulder as he exited the room, leaving Kakashi staring at the ceiling once again. The jounin knew that Kaeru had become attached to Naruto quickly, probably because the boy represented the last of his family. But Kakashi was still unsure of Kaeru's feelings towards his other teammates and, for that matter, towards Konoha. And yet, the boy was strong. Kakashi had seen him use that strength to save his teammates, including Kakashi himself. If the boy was a spy, he was doing a damn good job of hiding his intentions.

* * *

A/N: For a while, I thought I would actually have this chapter up in two weeks, and I was all excited; then work intervened and reminded me that I really do have a life, even if I chose to forget about it sometimes. However, I give you . . . Zabuza! Hopefully that will make some people happy. I must (as a side note) thank Hebi R. and Uchiki na Kage for showing me how cool Zabuza can actually be. He is now among my favorite Naruto villains, right below Pein and right above Kyuubi. Hopefully, he'll get some more face time in the next chapter.

Other notes on content: Suiton: Mizurampaa is a basic C-level jutsu that translates Water Element: Chaos Wave (kudos to anyone who knows where it actually appears in the manga). Suirou no Jutsu, aka Water Prison, is used by both Zabuza and Kisame, so I suppose it could be considered a Kiri staple, as well as Kirigakure no Jutsu (which is named after the village for Pete's sake), the one that involves a large cloud of mist. Kaze Ken is simply translated Blade of Wind or Wind Blade (I'm not sure which is proper) and basically consists of a blade of molded wind chakra that is then used as a weapon.

I am admittedly unsure if the little quirk of the clones not referring to themselves in the first person is canon or not, but it is an interesting concept, and I'll be revisiting it in the future.

And on that immensely long note, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (and I'm off on break until the third of January, go me!)

Sincerely,

Fia


	11. Chapter 11

"Itadakimasu."

Sasuke glanced at the two boys across the table from him. It was at times like these, when both of them affected the same posture over their food with the same stupid smile plastered on their faces, that it was easy to see how Naruto and Kaeru were related. Most of the time, it was easier to see the differences. Between the difference in height and the hair color, everything from the way they dressed down to their posture suggested that they held no similarities. But most of all, it was the eyes, Sasuke thought. There was something in Kaeru's eyes that Naruto was completely lacking. But it was only there sometimes, like it had been during the battle with Zabuza. And a few times when Kaeru had looked at Sasuke and called him Uchiha.

"Ah, Kaeru-kun," Sakura called from beside him, setting her chopsticks down deliberately. "I was wondering. What was that jutsu you used to get out of Zabuza's water prison?"

Sasuke leaned forward intently. That was another thing that made Kaeru different from Naruto. Kaeru was stronger.

"Yeah, what _did _you do, Kaeru-nii-san?" Naruto mumbled around his mouthful of rice. "Your arm went all _whoosh_!" He waved his arms about wildly to demonstrate, nearly knocking over the bowl in front of him.

Kaeru deftly hooked one finger into Naruto's bowl to keep it from spilling. The older boy had an amused smile on his face as he turned to his younger cousin.

"Whoosh?" he repeated dubiously. "We're gonna work on your vocabulary, gaki."

"How did you break the water prison?" asked Sasuke, determined to get the conversation back on track. Kaeru's expression grew serious as he gazed back at Sasuke.

"I didn't," the older boy said shortly. "I cut it."

Sasuke frowned in thought. That was a principle of elemental chakra, if he remembered Iruka's academy lectures correctly. Of the five elements that were associated with chakra, Wind and Lightning could both be sculpted into something resembling a blade.

"With your arms?"

Naruto was still confused. Not that his state of confusion surprised Sasuke. The dobe had never paid attention in the academy. The sarcastic thought made Sasuke wonder briefly how Naruto had graduated in the first place.

"It's a form of elemental chakra," explained Kaeru. "Everyone has it. Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning. Same names as the five biggest nations. I'm Wind."

Sasuke shoved his bowl of rice away. He wasn't hungry at the moment, which might have something to do with being forced to watch Naruto inhale his rice the same way he did his ramen.

"Tsunami-san, can I get another bowl for Kakashi-sensei?" Kaeru stood and approached the woman at the small stove within the one room that served as both kitchen and dining room in the small house. Naruto leaned over the table and snatched Sasuke's discarded bowl, pulling it towards him with a vengeance.

"Of course," the dark haired woman responded, not seeing the blond bottomless pit still at her table. "Is he all right?"

"He will be," answered Kaeru confidently. He reached out and took the new bowl from her. "Thanks. Ya know, if Tazuna's worried about money, he could always pay us in rice."

Kaeru turned toward the stairway that led upstairs then he stopped suddenly, holding the bowl of rice in one hand while his free hand fisted against his stomach as he grimaced.

"Kaeru-kun?" Sakura called.

Naruto lifted his face from his new bowl of food, his cheeks stuffed with rice, before he swallowed hard, concern washing over his features.

"It's fine, gaki," Kaeru interrupted before the boy could say anything. "You can help me out later."

Sasuke watched Naruto's concern fade into a reluctant kind of acceptance and wondered what could have made Naruto shut up so efficiently. The thought briefly flashed through his mind that he should learn that kind of technique, if only for the sake of his sanity.

"Why are you bothering?" a small, dead voice asked before Sasuke could decide whether or not to comment on the scene before him.

The three at the table plus the standing redhead turned to look at the owner of the voice: a short, barefooted boy with a large hat that covered nearly his entire head.

"Inari, these people are helping your grandfather," Tsunami reprimanded the boy hurriedly. "You should thank them for coming."

Naruto immediately sat up straighter, obviously expecting to be thanked or maybe even lauded. Sasuke was saved from having to scoff when the boy, Inari, just turned his back on the expectant room.

"Whatever," he declared in the same deadened voice.

"Hey!" Naruto half-rose from his seat as he stared indignantly at the retreating figure trudging up the stairs.

"Naruto, sit," Kaeru ordered firmly.

Snapping his mouth shut, Naruto sank back to his knees at his place at Tsunami's low table. Sasuke stared at Kaeru, surprised at the older boy's sudden seriousness. Kaeru simply kept his eyes on Naruto. His brows knit together into a puzzled frown, and his mouth opened briefly before his teeth snapped together again with an audible click. Whatever Kaeru wanted to say, he was having trouble saying it. Suddenly, the older boy let out a huff of breath and turned away from the table

"I'll be back," the redhead announced abruptly. He turned and headed for the stairs with the bowl of rice in his hand. "Kakashi should be up and about in a day or two. We'll see where to go from there."

Sasuke watched the older genin leave without noticing either Sakura's or Naruto's subdued looks. He had been curious about Kaeru's strengths ever since the older genin had sparred with him, teaching him something new even though Sasuke had been training since he was six years old. But the fact that Kaeru presumed to teach him didn't bother Sasuke as much as the fact that he could actually _learn _something from Kaeru. Kaeru was an older, redder version of Naruto. He was supposed to be a dobe, not a potential teacher.

* * *

True to Kaeru's assessment, Kakashi was sitting up by the next day. Granted, he was still on the bedroll that had been set up for him in an upstairs room, but Kaeru considered it close enough since he hadn't really counted on the gaping hole in Kakashi's side when he made his prediction. Currently, he and his team were sitting on the floor, listening to Kakashi order them to continue guarding Tazuna at home. Tazuna, who was sitting across from Kakashi, looked very pleased at the idea that he still had his slew of protectors. As soon as Kakashi was fully recovered, he would join them at the bridge while Tazuna worked to finish his project.

However, Kaeru was barely listening to the orders. Kakashi hadn't said a word about the hunter-nin—who was really Haku even if no one knew it yet—actually being an ally of Zabuza, and Kaeru was in the midst of wondering exactly how to call attention to that fact without calling attention to the fact that _he _knew it when no one else did.

"Kaeru?"

Kakashi called Kaeru on his inattention before a plan could fully form. Kaeru looked up and shrugged. It didn't matter, really. He had always been good at making stuff up on the fly.

"Something's been bothering me," he admitted truthfully. "Gatou should've known by now that Zabuza got killed trying to kill Tazuna. Why hasn't anyone else come after us?"

"You're expecting another attack," Sasuke translated.

Kaeru almost rolled his eyes at his rival before he remembered that Sasuke wasn't _his _rival any longer. Besides, he _was _a bit worried that Zabuza would report that there were two Konoha shinobi on this mission that were able to fight him. Then, Gatou would send out someone else to get the job done, worried that two serious opponents would be one too much for Zabuza while worrying about three green genin.

"Once Gatou hears that Zabuza died against a bunch of genin, who's he gonna send next?" Kaeru settled for scoffing. "Hoshigaki Kisame?"

"Huh?" Naruto threw a confused glance at his cousin.

"Another Mizu missing-nin," elaborated Kaeru hurriedly. On second thought, maybe he shouldn't have listed a future Akatsuki member as the next on Gatou's list. He didn't even know if Gatou knew about Kisame—or if Kakashi did for that matter. But the shark-face was the first guy that came to mind, given his and Zabuza's common fondness for giant swords and pointy teeth.

"But, we didn't kill Zabuza," Sakura protested. "That hunter-nin did."

"I didn't check the pulse." Kakashi spoke for the first time into the ensuing conversation. His uncovered eye stared at the wall to his side, giving the impression that he wasn't really addressing anyone in particular.

"What?" Now Naruto was frowning at his sensei.

"Does it matter?" Kaeru asked, knowing that it did. "That hunter-nin seemed pretty eager to take the body away to dispose— "

Kaeru stopped short, finally recognizing Kakashi's attentive one-eyed gaze as his sensei patiently waiting for his students to come to the conclusion that he had already found.

"Oh, shit," Kaeru murmured, mostly because he was afraid that Kakashi had realized that Kaeru knew more than he pretended to.

"Indeed." Kakashi just nodded at Kaeru's sudden bout of swearing.

"What!"

Naruto was obviously getting exasperated by now. Sakura's brows were knitted together as if she was in the midst of puzzling something out, and Tazuna waited suspiciously for further explanation. Kaeru put his fears of stupid, smart, observant jounin sensei on hold to look at the boy he had claimed as family.

"Hunter-nin aren't _supposed _to carry dead bodies around," he explained the same way he did most things with Naruto. "There's a greater chance that someone will attack them to get to the secrets of the dead ninja. They're supposed to destroy missing-nin on the spot."

"This hunter-nin didn't," Kakashi continued the explanation thoughtfully. "Also, he used senbon."

"Why senbon?" Sakura asked with a frown.

Kaeru glanced at Kakashi, hoping that the jounin would answer so that Kaeru wasn't expected to. He felt like he was already walking a dangerous line with how much information he had already blurted out. Tazuna looked a little lost with all the ninja shoptalk, but Kaeru wasn't worried about the super bridge-builder. He was worried about the man who knew both Namikaze Minato _and _Uzumaki Naruto and who still didn't trust Kaeru.

"Senbon are a precise weapon." The sensei shifted and laid one hand on his wounded side. "If you aim right, you can pierce a person's jugular. Or, you can just hit a cluster of nerves that will make him go into a death-like coma for a while."

"What!" Sakura was first to voice her realization of the point that Kakashi was trying to make and Kaeru had already known.

"That's right," Kakashi confirmed calmly. "There's a good chance that Zabuza's still alive."

In the silence that followed Kakashi's announcement, Kaeru cast his eyes around the room. Tazuna, unsurprisingly, looked darn close to panicked, while Sasuke was taking in the new development with the same stoicism Kaeru had seen on that face a hundred time before—only the face seemed too young to look that dead to the world. Beside the dark boy, Naruto had a look of sheer anticipation. Even his body followed suit, his muscles trembling slightly with barely-contained energy.

"So, what now?" Kaeru felt safe enough to ask. He wasn't about to offer any more information that he might not be expected to know, but he needed to keep the mission going.

"Since Zabuza likely still has his contract with Gatou, he'll be coming back." Kakashi neglected his wounded side to glance over his young team. "You all will have to get stronger before then. That means training."

"Training, huh?" Naruto confirmed eagerly. "Sounds like fun."

Kaeru resisted the urge to roll his eyes; Naruto wouldn't appreciate it. But he wondered if Kakashi suspected just how difficult this mission would get for his genin. Obviously, he knew what Zabuza was capable of, but how had Kakashi ever thought a few days of tree climbing would prepare a team of genin to meet the Demon of the Mist?

"That's not fun."

The flat voice that sounded far too young for its sentiment echoed Kaeru's internal doubts. The redhead recognized the boy even before he peered over his shoulder at the young figure just inside the doorway of the room. Tsunami accompanied the boy, completing the small, makeshift family.

"Inari," Tazuna called in a much happier tone than his face had shown a moment before. He held out one arm to beckon the kid to his side and turned to Kakashi in explanation. "This is my grandson."

Kaeru remembered the boy. Inari was even younger than Konohamaru, but both were the closest things Naruto had ever had to little brothers. Both looked up to him before anyone else had seen anything but a human container for a monstrosity. But now, Inari was still despondent, clinging to his grandfather as if he were still in mourning. Tsunami hovered in the doorway and muttered a reprimand at her son for being so impolite. Then, Inari turned his cheerless eyes to his audience.

"But, Mom, no one can win against Gatou." Inari's gaze sifted over all four of Kakashi's students before he decided Kaeru would be the easiest target. "You're going to die."

Kaeru flinched before he could think about his involuntary reaction. He hadn't really thought about his death sentence since they had left Konoha. His seals were still paining him, if not a little less regularly now, and Kaeru doubted that the brief reprieve was enough to stop the degradation of his chakra coils and eventually his inner organs. But Inari knew nothing about that. Not even Naruto did.

"Inari," Tazuna muttered to get the kid to shut up.

Naruto straightened, indignant, and shoved his thumb into his chest.

"Hey, remember this, kid," he demanded in a voice that fully expected to be obeyed only because no one would listen unless he made them. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha and hero of the Leaf. There's no way I'm gonna die from some bully like Gatou."

Inari continued his deadpan look at Naruto's obvious enthusiasm.

"What are you, stupid?" he suddenly demanded. "There's no such thing as a hero."

Ignoring his grandfather's protests, Inari shrugged off the arm around him and trudged out of the room, only pausing in the doorway to the upper level.

"I'm going to look at the ocean from my room," the boy announced in the same flat voice he had everything and left without further preamble.

Kaeru's calm eyes followed the boy up the stairs, but he didn't say anything. He was still stuck on the fact that Inari probably didn't even know how right his prediction was. Kaeru _was _going to die. Naruto, however, was not finished.

"Why that little—"

"Hey," Kaeru called, a bit dazed from being pulled from his thoughts so suddenly. Naruto didn't even listen to his protest as he trumped after the insulting figure. Kaeru didn't chase after him. Naruto would do what he wanted, and Inari had turned out all right the first time around. Occasionally, even Kaeru had to admit that Naruto said the right thing. Not that he could ever remember what the right thing had been except for that one time, his_ promise of a lifetime._

"What kind of training are we doing?" Sasuke demanded, eager for only that which would make him stronger.

"You'll see," Kakashi replied happily. "Maybe even Kaeru-kun can benefit from this."

Great. Kakashi was doing that one-eye-smile-thing again. That all-knowing-no-worries smile never meant anything good for any of Kakashi's students, present or future. Kaeru sighed heavily and braced himself for a day of walking up and down trees until Copy-nin Hatake was satisfied that Kaeru was a genin and not a threat to his team.

* * *

Momochi Zabuza did not like to be reliant on others. Ever since the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist had disbanded, he had been on his own, and he preferred to keep it that way. No one to betray him, no one to take advantage of his secrets. Not that Zabuza had many secrets, but there was a reason he was considered nuke-nin by the Mizukage—the assassination attempt did nothing to endear him to the Water Country's shinobi leader. Strangely enough, Zabuza never considered the boy seated in a chair at the foot of his bed as a dependent or a crutch. Haku was a tool. Nothing more. If nothing else, Zabuza could trust the boy to be absolutely loyal to him, if only because of how Zabuza had found him.

But being independent also came with a drawback. Because Zabuza wasn't a part of any shinobi village, he had to create his own economy. Being a killer for hire wasn't really a great profession unless one lived to kill. Zabuza called himself a demon, but he had a loftier goal than simply killing the strong. He was going to kill the strongest man in Kirigakure. But in the meantime, he was forced to take jobs from men who wouldn't survive ten seconds against a true shinobi. Hell, even those green Konoha genin could make short work of the man who was currently leering at Zabuza.

"So, even you have come back defeated," Gatou sneered. "It looks like Kiri nin are pretty pathetic."

Zabuza was sure that he was far from intimidating in his current position horizontal in a bed, looking for all the world as if he had no sense or feeling in his limbs. Hardly the picture of a feared assassin.

"You can't even avenge your men, and you call yourself a devil?" Gatou's cane tapped against the wooden floor as he inched closer to the bed. "Don't make me laugh."

Zabuza paid no attention to the jibe. The Demon Brothers weren't his men; they never had been. Gatou was mistaking a shared heritage for a reason for camaraderie. The siblings had simply been shinobi ousted from their village and in need of employment. Zabuza had taken them on this job initially because he wanted as little contact with Gatou as possible. With an old man as the target—not even a ninja but a simple architect—the demon of the mist didn't think his presence would be required. That had obviously changed when the Demon Brothers had been found in the forest near the coastline of Hi no Kuni with their throats cut in an efficient kill.

A slight change of tension in the still air within the room caught Zabuza's attention even before his eye caught the movement of Waraji's hand at his sword. He and his companion, Zouri, fancied themselves samurai, but they were nothing more than _kobun_ with fancy swords. Zabuza found them annoying, but he would have to pay attention if they were planning an attack. On a wounded man, no less, how very unlike the noble samurai they pretended to be. But a word from Gatou stilled their blades before they could make a move.

"Hey, there's no need to stay silent."

Gatou advanced on Zabuza's prone form and stretched out one hand to the wounded ninja. Beneath the cover that hid his movement, Zabuza curled his fingers carefully around the kunai beside him. He wasn't at his full potential quite yet, but he could easily take care of someone like Gatou.

"How about—" Gatou began snidely then suddenly found himself cut off when a stronger, smoother hand than his grasped his wrist with surprisingly strength.

"Don't touch Zabuza-sama with your dirty hands," Haku ordered coldly, twisting the old wrist firmly.

Zabuza wouldn't deny that he found the grimace of pain that appeared on Gatou's features sadistically satisfying.

"Brat," Waraji bit out. His hand came down to his sword even as he started forward with Zouri at his side.

The two fake-samurai didn't even have time to draw their swords before Haku positioned himself between Gatou's guards. His hands were on the samurai's suddenly missing swords, and Waraji and Zouri stood frozen with their own blades at their throats.

"You shouldn't do that," warned the boy, finally looking just as dangerous as he actually was instead of the soft figure he usually appeared as. "I'm in a bad mood right now."

Zabuza refused to feel pride at the boy's show of skill. It was only right that he defended his master, after all, and Zabuza would never have a weak tool. Gatou shook with the force of the _saki _radiating from Haku and turned abruptly.

"One more time!" the man snapped. Zabuza could almost see him trying to gather his wits again. "If you fail one more time, you won't be welcome here anymore. Remember that!"

Zabuza almost scoffed at the threat that was hardly a threat. He hadn't been welcome anywhere for a long time. Being kicked out of Nami no Kuni with the threat of death upon returning wouldn't be anything new for the nuke-nin. Haku released the swords in his hands, and Gatou's cronies scrambled to recompose their threatening appearance and hurry after their boss.

"You didn't have to do that, Haku," Zabuza reminded the boy as soon as he could no longer sense the overt presence of their three visitors.

"I know, Zabuza-sama." Haku's visage was once again calm and soft. He turned and retook his chair at the foot of the bed. "But it's too early to kill Gatou. If we cause a commotion, they will be after us again. We must be patient."

"Yes."

If Kiri got wind that Zabuza was operating so close to Mizu no Kuni, they might send a real hunter nin out for him. That would be harder to avoid than Haku in a borrowed mask. Zabuza turned to the boy again, reminded of his initial insurance policy when he had first discovered exactly who had killed the Demon Brothers.

"You saw the Leaf shinobi." His eyes were sharp on Haku's uncovered face.

"Yes," agreed Haku. "The three youngest are genin and not well-trained yet. The other two . . ."

"I didn't think Hatake Kakashi would be here," Zabuza admitted when Haku trailed away. "I may have to kill him."

Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-nin of Konoha, could be a dangerous opponent if led to be. Once Zabuza had had his undivided attention, Hatake had been able to copy all of Zabuza's most powerful water jutsu without any preparation. He only needed to look at Zabuza to know what the demon would do. He would be a problem. The genin were annoying brats at best. Zabuza had underestimated their creativity and lost a Bushin to them, but it was easily dismissed. It was the redhead that Zabuza wondered about. He was a decent fighter, and he obviously had some knowledge of Kiri nin, maybe even of Zabuza himself. That wind jutsu had been strong enough to stab through his water prison and force him to release the jutsu and avoid a fatal blow.

"Do you know the other one?" he demanded of his companion. Haku was usually good with information. Since no one had any records of him outside of his hometown, he could easily infiltrate a place and gather intelligence on its people or its allies. He might know something about this teenager who seemed too strong to be a genin, at least by Konoha standards.

"No," answered Haku. "He was also young."

The statement might have been an explanation or an excuse on Haku's part. Although genin teams usually came in threes, it wasn't unheard of for more ninja to gather for missions.

"Not that young." Zabuza had been even younger when he had gone through his "graduation exam," and Haku had been a child when Zabuza first came upon the boy chained by the neck to a fence and left for dead. "He could be dangerous."

He dropped the kunai in his hand back onto the sheets of the bed and rested his head against the pillow.

"Keep an eye on them," he commanded. "Don't worry about Gatou."

Zabuza wasn't concerned about Gatou. He was nothing more than an overgrown bully, and Zabuza was planning on killing the man, anyway. The money would be well worth it, not to mention the fact that he had a reputation to uphold. What kind of demon let himself be hired by a man who was so easily scared away by a little quickness from a boy?

* * *

"Why are we doing this again?" Naruto frowned at the tree in front of him. Unless Kakashi-sensei expected Zabuza to send trees to attack them, Naruto wasn't sure what good they were doing.

"Even though Zabuza's alive, he'll take some time to recover from his temporary paralysis," answered Kakashi from his place behind the three genin, leaning on a pair of crutches for support while Kaeru stood beside him, just in case. "You guys are gonna get stronger before then."

"How?" demanded Sasuke.

Kakashi's eyes crinkled into a hidden smile.

"You're going to climb trees," the jounin announced.

Naruto scowled. Climbing trees was hardly training; he had done it plenty of times when he was a kid, but they were ninja now. Kakashi couldn't really expect them to get stronger by—

"Without hands, gaki," Kaeru suddenly interrupted Naruto's thoughts before his mouth could even form the protest already racing through his brain.

Naruto cocked his head slightly at his older brother figure and tried to puzzle out his words.

"You mean like you did on the side of the building that time?" He pointed at Kaeru rudely—but Kaeru never seemed to mind Naruto's lack of manners. And Kaeru _did _say that he was going to teach him how to defy gravity some time. They just hadn't gotten to it before the mission.

"Ah, then you already know this exercise, Kaeru-kun." Kakashi turned to his helper cheerfully. "Would you demonstrate? I'm not fully recovered yet."

Naruto watched interestedly as Kaeru nodded and calmly approached the tree that Naruto faced. Kaeru walked up the tree horizontally, much like Naruto had seen him do on the side of the apartment building, until he stood upside down on the underside of a high branch. He tipped his head up so that he was gazing upside down at the adolescents on the ground.

"You focus chakra to your feet," explained Kaeru. "That allows you to pretty much stick to the tree. Eventually, you'll be able to do it on water, too, like on the lake."

Naruto burst into a wide grin at the thought of the surprise battle on the way to their destination. It had been scary, and Naruto wouldn't deny that in the innermost portion in his mind—but never to Sasuke's face. But watching Kaeru-nii and Kakashi-sensei beat Zabuza's ass while practically dancing on the surface of the water had been awesome.

"Really?" Naruto's eyes focused on Kaeru as the redhead started walking back down the trunk. "Cool!"

"Let's focus on the tree first," instructed Kakashi calmly from behind his team. Resting one hand on his crutches, he withdrew three kunai with the other and launched them at the ground with a flick of his wrist. "Use those to mark your progress. It's best if you try to get a running start."

Naruto set his jaw and picked up the knife-like blade in front of him then turned back to the tree that Kaeru was just stepping away from. The older boy caught Naruto's eye and winked once. Naruto's rigidity of determination turned into a cheeky grin. He could do this.

Unfortunately, reality came crashing in about the same time as gravity decided that Uzumaki Naruto wasn't quite ready to break all its laws and yanked Naruto off the tree trunk and onto his back after only one meter of running. From his place on the flat of his back, trying to catch his breath, Naruto glanced around at his teammates. Sasuke had gotten higher than he had, slashing the tree with a skinny mark about twice as far off the ground as Naruto knew he had gotten. But the trunk below Sasuke's mark was littered with deep indentations in the shape of footprints. Sasuke knelt in front of his own tree, glaring at it as if he were deciding the best method to burn it to the ground. A small part—well, a majority, actually—of Naruto silently crowed that Sasuke seemed to be as frustrated as he was, but Naruto still couldn't see Sakura-chan anywhere.

"Hey, this isn't so hard!" a light voice suddenly cried out.

Naruto looked up; it was easy since he was already on his back. Sakura sat on a thin branch high above them all, even higher than Kaeru had climbed to demonstrate. She squinted at the party below her and stuck out her tongue a little bit like a five-year-old kid who had one-upped everyone else.

"Well, it seems Sakura is the best at chakra control," Kakashi announced from the ground. "Which means that she's closest to becoming Hokage, unlike a certain someone."

Naruto scrambled to his feet and shot a glare at Kakashi. Then again, everyone made fun of his dreams, so why should his sensei be any different from the rest of them?

"And it looks like the Uchiha clan doesn't amount to much, either." Kakashi turned his single eye onto Sasuke.

"Sensei!" Sakura cried reprimanding from the tree.

Naruto just smiled smugly at the thought that his rival hadn't escaped a put-down either. But a loud chuckle distracted him, and Naruto turned curiously to where his cousin had his head tilted back as he laughed long and loud.

"Go, Sakura-chan," Kaeru called proudly. "Way to beat the boys."

Sakura just hung her head as her cheeks worked on turning the same color as her hair. Naruto's smile slowly fell, and he faced his tree again, picking up the kunai where he had dropped it as soon as he had hit the ground. He _was _going to get this; the future Hokage of Konoha was not about to be outdone by a tree.

"You'll get it, gaki." The voice surprisingly echoed Naruto's own thoughts. When Naruto glanced over his shoulder, Kaeru looked back at him with his crooked kind of half-smile. "You're not using enough chakra. Try harder. Just not as hard as teme there." Kaeru's head jerked towards Sasuke. "He used too much."

Naruto looked over Sasuke's tree again and noted the deep footprints. So, not that much chakra, but more than he was using now. Naruto nodded firmly; he could do that.

"Well, you'll be practicing this for the rest of the day," announced Kakashi. "Kaeru-kun?"

Kakashi limped his way around to head back to Tazuna's place.

"I'll stick around, Kakashi-sensei." Kaeru laced his fingers together and braced his hands behind his head. "Ya know, keep an eye on the gaki."

Naruto paused in examining his tree to glance back at Kaeru gratefully. He and Kaeru hadn't been able to spend much time together, alone, on the mission, but it was still Naruto's responsibility to take care of his cousin like he had last night when he painted over the seals on Kaeru's arms. Kaeru had said that the battle with Zabuza had "aggravated" them, that his chakra didn't want to be gathered right when it needed to be. Naruto didn't know much about chakra, so he didn't know how to fix Kaeru. And he didn't dare ask Kaeru if he knew anyone who _would _be able to.

Kakashi left without protest, at least not any that Naruto heard but he was a little busy pumping chakra into the soles of his feet and running straight for a very immobile target. By the time Naruto hit the ground again, Kakashi was gone and Kaeru was sitting on the forest floor, leaning back against a tree with his arms behind his head. Satisfied with his audience, Naruto went back to the tree.

It was a few more hours before Naruto got frustrated. Sakura-chan had been long since walking calmly up and down the tree while trying not to attract too much attention to herself. He and Sasuke, however, were still charging at the tree trunks, which were now scarred beyond recognition with kunai slashes marring the bark all the way up. And still, Naruto was only pulling dead even with Sasuke. Naruto pulled a face at his tree, just to make himself feel better, then started towards Kaeru.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii," Naruto called, ignoring his teammates.

Kaeru was still sitting under his tree, but now he stared into the forest thoughtfully. At Naruto's call, he obediently turned blue eyes to meet their matches in Naruto's earnest face.

"Gimme a hint," commanded the younger genin.

"A hint?" Kaeru repeated.

"How to do this," Naruto clarified with a frown. "I gotta get stronger than Sasuke."

"No, you don't."

Naruto jerked out of his reverie and made to protest before he realized exactly what Kaeru meant. Sasuke was still climbing his tree behind Naruto, and Naruto was losing.

"Sasuke's your teammate, gaki." Kaeru frowned at the boy before him. "You get stronger _with _him, not against him."

Naruto's mouth twisted with the urge to pout. He wasn't meaning to actually fight with Sasuke, but Sasuke was a bastard and a jerk on top of that. Naruto couldn't lose to him, and he refused to give Sasuke _any _reason to look down on him. Kaeru suddenly sat up straighter and motioned Naruto to come closer.

"There are different types of strength, y'know," he postulated. "A ninja can be strong here, here, or here." He tapped Naruto's biceps, brain, and chest—just over his heart—all in order. "Molding chakra means combining the spiritual and the physical." His calloused fingers went back to touch Naruto's heart and muscles as he named them. Then, Kaeru looked back into Naruto's wide eyes. "That's where you're strongest."

"Really?" Naruto searched Kaeru's gaze wide-eyed, scanning for any signs of joking or teasing. But his cousin was all sincerity.

"Yeah," responded Kaeru quietly. "Don't ever give up, Naruto, and never go back on your word. Maybe someday I'll get to see you be a great ninja."

Naruto's heart leaped inside his chest, and suddenly he couldn't stop smiling. He walked back to face the tree that had his marks crawling slowly upwards, ignoring the break that Sasuke was taking to talk to Sakura. Naruto was determined to get as good as Kaeru, maybe even better. He would prove that there were still heroes in the world. After all, he had one for his cousin.

* * *

A/N: Amazingly, I seem to be alive. I apologize for my extended absence. I blame school, mostly, and my own laziness for the rest of it. But I'm back.

Not a whole lot to say about this chapter, either. It's mostly the aftermath of Zabuza's attack and Kaeru trying to keep order in the way he remembers things happening. The quip that Kaeru makes about Tazuna paying them in rice is an obscure reference to _The Seven Samurai_ (the original film by Kurosawa Akira). And I did have Kakashi kill the Demon Brothers, partially because of Gatou's statement about avenging them and partially because I couldn't see the practicality of a Konoha jounin letting two nuke-nin go free.

I am also surprisingly happy with the Zabuza scene. I hadn't realized how cool he was until I started reading over the manga chapters he was in. He is now one of my favorite villains in Naruto, somewhere in between Pein/Nagato and Kyuubi (Orochimaru and Madara are both way down the list for somewhat of the same reasons, but that's a whole other rant).

I'm not sure when I'll get to upload the next chapter, but I assure you that I am trying once again to get into a routine of every other week (thank goodness for Spring Break).

Sincerely,

Fia


	12. Chapter 12

Sakura stretched her arms high above her head and yawned wide enough to pop the right side of her jaw. After a full day of walking up and down the trunk of a tree while Sasuke and Naruto both struggled to catch up to what she had accomplished the first try, Sakura found herself exhausted but too sore to sleep well. She swiped at the moisture that had gathered in her eyes from her intake of oxygen and pried her eyes back open.

"Are we makin' ya work too hard, Sakura-chan?" She could hear the wide grin in the voice without even looking at the redhead who had issued the taunt.

But she stuck her tongue out childishly at Kaeru anyway.

"Well, climbing trees all day is tiring," she protested with a smile from her perch sitting on a large wooden crate. She wasn't sure what it held, but it made for a good vantage point.

Kaeru flashed her a final grin before he turned away with a long plank balanced on one shoulder. Two other figures, identical to her teammate down to the fingerless gloves he often wore, were helping two of the bridge workers to lift a wooden slate of square stone blocks.

"Are you sure it's all right for you to be here, Sakura-chan?" Tazuna interjected.

Sakura briefly wondered if she should protest everyone insisting on calling her Sakura-chan. Maybe it had started with Naruto's stupid belief that if he called her in such a familiar manner, she would actually agree to go on a date with him. Then his cousin picked up the habit; although Sakura had to admit that it sounded a little less annoying coming from someone several years older than her.

"It's find, Tazuna-san," she replied happily. "Kakashi-sensei said that since I've already mastered the training we're doing, I should come here with Kaeru-kun to protect you."

"What about the other two boys?" Tazuna frowned beneath his wide hat.

"Still training," Kaeru grunted as he tossed the wooden plank down to the bare, half-completed bridge near the end that abruptly dropped off into the foggy water below.

"But Kakashi said that assassin was still alive," protested the bridge builder.

"Zabuza's not gonna attack yet," Kaeru stated firmly, as if that ended the argument then and there.

He turned back to his audience and tugged at his gloves, securing them against his palms.

"Besides, I got a clone with Naruto and Sasuke, and Kakashi's still at the house." He grinned widely again. "The only trouble they're gonna get into is with each other."

Sakura smiled back at him as he stooped to pick up another board, transferring it to the unfinished end of the bridge. Kaeru was always friendly to her. She was a little concerned at his eagerness to work so hard so soon after the battle, especially when Kakashi-sensei was still limping around on crutches. But Kaeru had assured her several times that his injuries weren't nearly as bad as the jounin's. And except for that brief moment of pain in Tsunami's kitchen, Sakura hadn't seen any lingering effects of his wounds.

A timid man in a wide hat much like Tazuna's distracted Sakura when he approached the old man.

"Tazuna-san, can I talk to you?" the man inquired quietly. His skin looked weathered in a way that years of living near salt water and sea winds could always accomplish, and deep lines ran along the edges of his eyes, making him look perpetually tired.

"Yeah, Giichi." Tazuna slapped the younger man on the shoulder happily.

Giichi didn't seem to return Tazuna's upbeat sentiment. He glanced at his feet and swallowed hard with Sakura and Kaeru looking on curiously.

"Tazuna, have you considered that you should stop building this bridge?" Giichi questioned with a sense of deadened finality.

"What?" snapped Tazuna in a suddenly low tone.

Sakura's eyes were quick enough to catch Giichi's flinch at the demand for explanation. She noticed that Kaeru had frozen as well with a long plank of wood on one shoulder and his eyes firmly fixed on Giichi.

"I know I started working on this bridge with you," Giichi started to explain, "and we've been close for a long time. You know I want to help you, but Gatou will notice us soon. This is pointless if you lose your life over it."

Tazuna's face fell into a quiet kind of solemnity. Sakura suddenly wondered if the old man was considering how close he came to walking back to his home alone after lying to shinobi. If Kakashi-sensei had opted to take their team back to Konoha, there would have been no one left on the road to protect Tazuna from Zabuzu's attack.

"I can't do that," Tazuna answered with his eyes downcast. "This bridge is our bridge. This is the bridge we started building together, believing it would bring resources into our super poor country."

"But if we lose our lives—" shouted Giichi, determined to get in one more protest.

"That's enough," Tazuna announced in a much louder voice than he had been using moments before. "Let's stop for lunch."

Tazuna turned his back to the suddenly silent Giichi and motioned Kaeru to put down his load.

"Giichi," the older man began in a quiet tone, "you don't have to come back tomorrow."

Sakura slowly lowered herself from her perch on top of the crate, keeping her eyes on Giichi's shocked look for a moment. A slight popping sound she had come to recognize ever since being placed on Team Seven made Sakura look to where Kaeru's two clones were reduced to a couple pillars of smoke. Kaeru himself knelt on the bride and let down the plank in his arms gently.

"Your kid's got quite a legacy, old man," muttered the redhead without looking at his audience. "You're brave enough to stand up to Gatou."

Sakura glanced at Tazuna's surprisingly lack of reaction—other than a simple lift of his shoulders—before she looked back at Kaeru. But Kaeru didn't seem to expect a reaction or a response. He just straightened into a stand and watched the foggy expanse of sea that hid the mainland of Hi no Kuni from view.

"Kaeru-kun?" Sakura questioned gently.

Kaeru looked over his shoulder quickly and flashed the girl a reassuring grin. It was so hard to tell what Kaeru was thinking most of the time. In fact—now that Sakura thought about it—he talked about his past about as much as Sasuke-kun did. But the difference was that Kaeru didn't hesitate to reassure his friends that he was all right. Kaeru turned and followed Tazuna off the bridge slowly as all the other workers slowly dissipated, making their way home for lunch before work on the bridge would start once again.

* * *

Kaeru had forgotten how bad Nami no Kuni really was under Gatou. He remembered, of course, that Gatou had made everyone's lives miserable, especially Tazuna's family. But he hadn't really expected that worker to up and quit his work on the bridge when it was their greatest hope. He hadn't expected the cold, dead look on the adults as he walked with Tazuna and Sakura through the village. His head turned to follow a young man who passed them, holding a hand-written sign: _Will work for food_. Briefly, Kaeru wondered if he should suggest to Tazuna that the kid—hardly older than Kaeru—should be Giichi's replacement on the bridge.

Tazuna dully announced that he had to stop at the market to bring home some more food for Tsunami and the family. With his hands shoved in his pockets, Kaeru watched the man pick over the meager choices on display in the store. There was rice, as always, but barely any fruit and only the most common vegetables. The store was even almost out of miso.

"Pervert!"

A sudden high scream jerked Kaeru's head around just in time to see Sakura slam her foot into a middle-aged man's face. Despite feeling very sorry for the recipient of Sakura's temper, the edges of Kaeru's mouth twitched with the task of repressing his smile.

"Sakura-chan, that guy wasn't a pervert," he announced when the man fled the vengeful kunoichi.

"He was trying to grab me!" Sakura's death glare—which had always been much hotter than Sasuke's—turned full-force onto Kaeru.

"He was aiming for your bag," explained Kaeru as Tazuna paid for his small bag of groceries. "He's a pickpocket. Probably trying to get some money for food."

Sakura's frown suddenly melted into a shocked look of comprehension.

"Oh," she murmured quietly.

Kaeru fell silent and followed Tazuna out of the store with Sakura trailing behind, still looking downcast. Kaeru glanced back at her occasionally as the trio headed down the main street on their way out of town. He forgot sometimes that none of his current teammates had seen the things he had. He was so used to looking to Sakura for rationale or even for one sole person who believed that things could still work out according to her teammate's promises because her friend would never go back on his word. Even before the last battle with Kisame had inflicted wounds that no one but the late Godaime Hokage could heal, Sakura had believed that her last teammate would find a way. He would bring Konoha back to what it was because it was his home.

"Kaeru-kun."

Sakura's call quickly brought Kaeru back out of memories of a red dress stained with a darker red that had never looked right on her. He lifted his head enough to look back at her while still trying to shake off the feeling that she looked far too young.

"Would you help me with my offense?" pleaded the cherry blossom with her fingers tightening into each other.

"Huh?"

Kaeru frowned and wondered for a moment why Sakura was so worried when she had already completed Kakashi's training. Then the vocabulary popped back into his mind. _Offense_.

"Oh, I'm sorry about what I said, Sakura." Kaeru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't mean to . . . I know you're strong, Sakura-chan. I just thought you could be stronger than that."

Hell, he _knew _that Sakura could be stronger than that. But he also knew that he couldn't teach her what she was best at. He was shit at medical jutsu.

"You got great chakra control, Sakura-chan. Even better than Sasuke and Naruto," he explained, knowing she would connect that into the training Kakashi had explained. So, she knew it wasn't just Kaeru saying it to make her feel better. "Girls usually do. Might be why they make great iryo-nin."

"Medical-nin?" Sakura repeated.

Kaeru nodded, trying not to look too excited that she had picked up the topic of interest.

"In—" he began then suddenly stopped in realization that he wasn't supposedly from his home village anymore. Well, easy to fix. "In Whirlpool, every three-man team was assigned an iryo-nin." That had been Tsunade's idea, and the reason that both Ino and Hinata learned so many medical techniques in addition to their own family jutsu. "At least, they were supposed to; we ran short sometimes. But it helped teams in the field stay alive."

They were out of town by now, walking along the tree-lined dirt road to Tazuna's house. Kaeru scanned the forest around him, just in case. Zabuza would still be out of commission, but Haku most definitely was not. Kaeru remembered that the boy didn't actually show up until morning, not that he could remember which morning. Maybe Kaeru could find him before that. Haku and Naruto really could've become friends, and dang if Naruto couldn't use a few more for himself.

"Kaeru-kun?" Sakura called again. "Were you ever a sensei?"

The question took Kaeru by surprise, and he had to blink several times before he could form an answer.

"No," he finally said shortly. "There was this kid that used to follow me around, but—"

His blue eyes fell to the ground at the memory of Konohamaru. The stupid kid had stood up to Pein's demand that Konoha release Uzumaki Naruto, the last of the jinchuuriki, to Akatsuki. Kaeru would've been a terrible sensei. He hadn't been in time to save Konohamaru, but Kakashi had died protecting his students, just another way he had followed his longtime rival.

_"He's going to kill himself like this," Sakura murmured worriedly, pushing her cropped hair away from her face._

_"How many did he say he was going to do?" Ino inquired from beside her._

_"One thousand five hundred one-handed push-ups if Gai-sensei didn't make it." Sakura's tone dropped at the mention of Konoha's Green Beast._

_Ino paused and glanced into the hospital's small courtyard. It was still a bit trashed from Akatsuki's attack, and repairs were going on around them while the med-nin tried to save everyone they could. But with Tsunade herself injured, Sakura, Ino, and the others were fighting an uphill battle. Not to mention trying to take care of stubborn patients like Rock Lee who was currently on push-up number one hundred and twenty-seven._

_"Shouldn't we stop him?" Ino turned in desperation to where Neji sat in a chair, crutches beside him and a cast encasing his right leg from ankle to thigh._

_"You won't be able to," Neji repled blandly._

_Sakura opened her mouth to suggest something else when a bright figure nudged his way past her and into the courtyard._

_"Naruto, what are you doing?" she demanded. "You're not recovered yet."_

_Naruto ignored Sakura's protests and approached the sweating, trembling Lee. Without a word, Naruto crouched down and spread himself beside Lee, who paused in his exercise long enough to gaze solemnly at his friend._

_"Naruto-kun, please do not try to deter me," he commanded breathlessly. "I have sworn that I would perform fifteen hundred push-ups with one hand if my beloved sensei was unable to recover from his injuries. I must complete this task, and you shall not—"_

_"One hundred twenty-eight," murmured Naruto, pushing his body off the ground with his left hand while he kept his broken right arm tucked into his chest._

_"Naruto-kun?" Lee frowned and watched Naruto repeat the performance._

_"One hundred twenty-nine."_

_Sakura's mouth hung open in the midst of a silent protest._

_"Great, now we got two stubborn idiots," grumbled Ino. Her caustic tone was betrayed by the small crack in her voice. "Sakura, go talk to him."_

_Sakura swallowed hard and shook her head, dislodging the tears that had gathered in her eyes._

_"Naruto blames himself," she whispered. Any louder and her voice might crack as well. "He won't stop until he counts all of them."_

_"One hundred thirty-one," the two injured ninja called out in chorus. Each determined to make it to the end, one to honor his sensei and one to pay for the man's death._

"Do you have any scrolls on medical jutsu, Kaeru-kun?" inquired Sakura curiously.

Kaeru swallowed and shook his head quickly, trying to make his body forget about the task of performing one thousand three hundred and seventy-three push-ups in one day.

"Eh?" He frowned confusedly at the young kunoichi walking beside him.

"Scrolls," Sakura repeated. "From Whirlpool?"

Now, that was an interesting thought. Wondering what kind of medical jutsu his mother's country could have had lightened Kaeru's thoughts enough to give Sakura a half-smile that turned only slightly reluctant.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Kaeru apologized honestly. "Most everything I had before got burned before I left. Iruka-sensei might have some basics you can look at when we get back to Konoha."

"I suppose the other two are going to be super hungry from working so hard," muttered Tazuna, neatly interrupting all ninja shop-talk once again.

"Actually, I doubt they'll be coming." Kaeru's half-smile turned into a grin. Naruto and Sasuke were both far too competitive to stop in the midst of trying to beat each other just to eat. Naruto would forget all about it in his single-minded approach to training, and Sasuke would never quite before the dead last did.

"But they need to eat," Sakura protested in concern.

"Don't worry." Kaeru just shrugged. "Maybe my clone can convince them to come in. But if they collapse, they'll just get dragged home, anyway."

* * *

Sasuke launched himself away from the trunk of the tree as soon as he felt himself slipping and thrust one hand in front of him to catch the bark with his kunai. He used his momentum to flip backwards, arching his back in a smooth movement to end up landing on his feet, one yard away from the tree that held his slash marks up along the trunk. Glancing to his left, Sasuke saw that Naruto had progressed at least as far as he had.

"Keep this up, and we'll need two more clones just to hoist you two up the tree."

Sasuke ground his teeth together and glared at the interruption. But the redheaded boy just leaned against the tree at his back with his arms crossed behind his head without concern, taking in the marks on both trees. Kakashi had sent Sakura with Tazuna for the day, with the intention of using Kaeru to watch Naruto and Sasuke in the forest, just in case Kaeru prediction of another assassin taking Zabuza's place came true. But Kaeru had the unusual, annoying talent of being in two places at once. So, Kaeru and Sakura both went into town to guard Tazuna while one kage bushin remained with the other two genin.

Sasuke didn't know that much about Kage Bushin no Jutsu. It _was _a kinjutsu and thus not taught in any of the Academy classes other than its mention as a highly dangerous jutsu because of the amount of chakra needed as well as something called sensory overload. But Kaeru's shadow clone had remained with them all day, and, despite its strange speech patterns, it didn't show any signs of fading or becoming weaker.

"How long did it take you to get this, Kaeru-nii?" Naruto panted and wiped his brow with the back of his arm.

"Longer than you," was the redhead's amused answer. He smiled then glanced over at Sasuke.

Defiantly, the Uchiha set his eyes back on his goal and ran towards the tree again.

"You need some help?" Kaeru rose to his feet as Sasuke fell back down to earth, this time landing somewhat less gracefully on one knee.

"No," he answered shortly.

"Fine, then." Kaeru simply shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned his back against the tree again.

Sasuke could still sense Kaeru's calm, blue gaze on his back. Pressing his jaws together firmly, Sasuke shoved the feeling out of his mind. He had to concentrate on this training. He had to get stronger. Staring at the tree in front of him, Sasuke darted forward, all the while feeling a prickling sensation at the back of his neck that told him he was being watched. From the corner of his eye, he could see Naruto charge at his tree at the same time. Sasuke pumped an additional burst of chakra to his legs. He was _not _going to be outdone by the dobe!

Sasuke felt his feet shoot off from the trunk almost immediately, as if he and the tree were opposite ends of a magnet that repelled each other. He lost his grip so quickly that he didn't have time to twist his body into a flip so that he could actually land on his feet. The most he could do was try to right himself in midair. Managing to get his feet under him was one thing, but balancing seemed to be out of his reach. Sasuke landed hard on his heels and started falling backwards. He could already predict what would happen: he was about to fall flat on his ass. But before he could tumble into such an embarrassing position, he felt a strong hand at his back, tipping him back into a standing position.

"You're pushing it too hard," Kaeru's voice came from behind him.

Sasuke jerked away from the touch and spun around to glare at the older genin.

"I don't need your help," he bit back. This was his struggle, his quest, _his _burden to bear. No one else could understand his ambition.

Kaeru just frowned at the dark-haired boy.

"Do you want to get this or not?" demanded the redhead hotly. He calmed quickly and folded his arms across his chest. "You're thinking about it too much. When you walk and talk at the same time, you don't need to think about the walking, ne? You just put one foot in front of the other."

Kaeru took Sasuke by the shoulder and turned him around to face the scratched up tree.

"Don't think about this," he ordered, more quietly. "Just concentrate on how much chakra you're expelling. Always an equal amount from the soles of your feet."

Sasuke's anger slid away slowly as he stared at the tree. He knew he needed to be calm to attempt this kind of chakra control, but Itachi was always at the forefront of his mind. He needed to be strong, strong enough to avenge his family by killing the madman responsible for their deaths. But, a small part of Sasuke responded to Kaeru's calm instructions. Breathing deeply, the young Uchiha tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand and felt the familiar, tingling warmth that signaled his chakra traveling through his body. Suddenly, he ran.

For a moment, Sasuke forgot about his movements, only concentrating on the warm feeling spreading through his feet. He ignored the sense of gravity pulling at him as he flew up the tree parallel to the ground. He barely registered his previous mark as he passed it and kept running, focused only on the tree and his own chakra. When he could feel his control slipping, Sasuke scratched a line in the trunk and flipped backwards. He sailed to the ground and landed easily, if not heavily, on his feet, caught unnecessarily by a pair of hands on his shoulders.

"See, that was better."

Sasuke glanced behind him to see Kaeru beaming proudly at the tree before he turned his blue eyes to Sasuke.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted uncomfortably.

"You're welcome, bastard." Kaeru's smile remained on his face as if glued on, and he backed away from the boy. Sasuke turned away from his onetime instructor, ignoring a feeling that he hadn't felt in nearly six years growing in the pit of his stomach.

_"Aniki, will you teach me to throw shuriken today?"_

Sasuke swallowed back his memories of Itachi and tried to concentrate on the tree again. Surreptitiously, he glanced again at Kaeru. The clone was laughing happily at something Naruto had done or said, his head thrown back and his mouth open wide. Sasuke frowned. Kaeru was, at most, a distant relative of Naruto's who had suddenly appeared in Konoha. That didn't explain why Kaeru sometimes treated him exactly the same way he treated Naruto: like a little brother he was passing his knowledge on to.

* * *

Naruto shoveled the last of the steamed rice into his mouth and swallowed what he could, but his cheeks still puffed out with the excess food. He glared across the table at Sasuke, satisfied that the bastard was still inhaling his bowl. The two had been eating constantly throughout supper while Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari looked on. Well, Naruto _thought_ Inari was looking, but it was hard to tell with that kid. The important thing was that Sasuke was falling behind.

With his cheeks still full of food, Naruto quickly held up his empty bowl to demand another helping. Suddenly, another hand grabbed his wrist firmly and forced the bowl back down to the table. Naruto glared at Kaeru, who was seated beside him propping his chin on his fist while his elbow balanced on the table.

"You don't get more, gaki," Kaeru ordered firmly.

"I need more food," protested Naruto, mouth still full. He ignored the disgusted look that Sakura-chan shot his way as well as Kakashi-sensei's amused curve of his bare eye.

"Gaki," Kaeru called, a warning without even saying his name.

"I need to get stronger." Naruto just kept glaring. His cousin was going to make him lose to Sasuke!

"Oi." Kaeru lifted his head from its perch on his fist and leaned close to Naruto's stuffed face. "Swallow."

Naruto shifted the masses of food stuffed in each of his cheeks and forced it down his throat. As soon as his mouth was empty, he went back to glaring at Kaeru defiantly. Then, he found it suddenly difficult to keep up such a serious expression.

"Urglk," Naruto grunted and tried to tuck his head closer to his chest in an effort to shrink his stomach back to its regular size. Kaeru released the boy's wrist and leaned back to observe.

"Told ya, gaki."

Naruto raised his head just enough to catch Kaeru's half-smile, a distinct impression reverberating that his cousin was laughing at him. Naruto rolled his eyes and saw Sasuke across the table, looking more green than pale for once. A portion of Naruto's throat relaxed at the thought that Sasuke was faring just as well as him.

"You idiot," snapped Sakura from Naruto's other side. "Don't waste good food like that."

Naruto flinched in anticipation of Sakura's temper. Getting Sakura-chan mad at him was never a good idea.

"Don't hit him, Sakura-chan," warned Kaeru with a wide smile. "He might explode."

Satisfied that the squeal that issued from Sakura meant that she wouldn't be socking him, Naruto rested his chin on the low table and tried not to move. Sasuke had his eyes closed and his head turned away. Naruto wondered if Sasuke would throw up—then he could rub _that _in Sasuke face, just not literally—but then his stomach curled at the thought of seeing, and smelling, anything that issued from Sasuke's stomach, and Naruto forgot about it.

Tsunami gradually cleaned up around the two boys who were still trying desperately not to puke. Eventually, she set out cups of tea for Kakashi, Tazuna, and Kaeru. Naruto gingerly sat up and wondered if he could actually get to see Kakashi try to drink the tea with his facemask on. His stomach still felt unnaturally stretched, but at least he didn't have the urge to empty it anymore.

"Tsunami-san, why is this picture torn?" Sakura called curiously. "Inari-kun was staring at it during dinner."

Naruto turned his head carefully. Sakura stood by the wall, gazing at a framed photo on the wall. He could just barely make out Tsunami and Inari in the picture, but the top right quarter of the photograph had been torn off, like Sakura said, was torn away.

"That's a picture of one of this village's greatest heroes," Tazuna answered for Tsunami.

Suddenly, Inari noisily got to his feet, kicking the table in the process and jarring Naruto's chin—and consequently stomach.

"Inari!" Naruto heard Tsunami call as he grimaced and swallowed away the sudden nausea. When Naruto opened his eyes again, both Inari and Tsunami wer gone and Tazuna was staring at the table sadly.

"Seems like there's a story here," Kakashi commented as if he didn't care.

Naruto looked to his teacher and saw that Kakashi's cup of tea was already halfway empty. Just for spite, Naruto pushed his tongue through his teeth at Kakashi. How was he supposed to see underneath Kakashi's mask if the ninja was so damn sneaky?

"Before I tell you about the hero, I need to tell you about the day Inari met that man." Tazuna took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose where the glasses usually rested. "His name was Kaiza."

Naruto lifted his arms and rested his chin on his folded arms. More comfortable now, he settled in to listen to the story.

"Inari had a dog named Pochi several years ago," explained Tazuna. "It was just a stray, but Inari took it in. One day, some boys were bullying him. They threw Pochi into the lake, then pushed Inari in after the dog. Inari didn't know how to swim. But Kaiza saved him and brought him home. After that, Kaiza became like a father to Inari."

Naruto let his mouth form a smile. Already this sounded like a good story. It was missing a little bit of action, like someone beating on those bullies that dared to pick on someone smaller than them, but still good.

"One month, we had more rain than usual," Tazuna continued. "There was a super big rainstorm, and part of the village was in danger of flooding. Kaiza dove into the rapids to tie a rope to the gate to pull it shut. He saved the village."

"He sounds like a good guy," Kaeru commented quietly into the silence that followed Tazuna's pause. His hand curled around his cup of tea, but it looked just as full as when Tsunami had set it down.

"He was," Tazuna responded.

Naruto liked this story. The guy really was a hero. To protect your home with all your strength was what a hero did. After all, that's what ninja did, wasn't it?

"But then, Gatou came to this country," the old man began again. His body shivered as if a cold breeze had shot through the room.

"What happened?" inquired Kakashi. He didn't sound quite so bored now, but Naruto wasn't surprised. The story was just getting good now.

"In front of everyone, Gatou put Kaiza to death," Tazuna announced solemnly.

Wide-eyed, Naruto stared at Tazuna and wondered if he had heard wrong. But Sakura and Sasuke both had similar shocked looks on their faces at the news that Gatou had taken away so much from the small family. That wasn't supposed to happen! The hero of the story wasn't supposed to die in the end. That didn't make a happy ending.

"Gatou accused Kaiza of committing terrorist acts against his corporation." Tazuna sighed and kept his eyes on the table instead of the shinobi watching him carefully. "Kaiza, the village's hero, was called a danger to the country's peace and killed. From that day, Inari changed. As did Tsunami and the whole village."

Naruto buried his chin in his arms and glared at the table. That was why Inari didn't believe in heroes. It was because his hero had died for what he believed. But Inari still cried for him. Naruto's brows came together swiftly. Konoha had heroes, too. Iruka-sensei had saved Naruto from that ass Mizuki. And Yondaime had died for his village; to save it from Kyuubi. That was what Naruto wanted to be. Not that he necessarily wanted to die. But he wanted to be a hero. He was going to be a hero.

Naruto planted his palms on the table and pushed off firmly. But as soon as he stood, his legs felt like jelly and refused to support his weight. He managed to turn his body so that he fell on his shoulder instead of his still-full stomach. But his grunt attracted everyone's attention.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" demanded Sakura.

"If you're thinking of training, don't," commanded Kakashi bluntly. "You've already used up too much chakra today. If you release any more, you'll be in danger of chakra exhaustion."

Naruto gritted his teeth and pushed himself up off the floor.

"I'm going to prove it," he murmured.

"What?" Sasuke demanded, and Naruto was almost too determined to get out the door to notice that the bastard hadn't even called him a name.

"I'm going to prove that heroes still exist in this world," declared the blond.

"You want help, gaki?" called Kaeru.

"No." Naruto frowned over his shoulder then softened his look. His cousin was cool, but Naruto had to do this on his own. "_I _have to prove it."

Kaeru stared at the boy for a moment with that intense look that always reminded Naruto of standing in front of Iruka-sensei waiting to hear if he had failed again. Apparently, Naruto passed because Kaeru-nii nodded once as a corner of his mouth turned up slightly. Satisfied, Naruto smiled back then marched out the door.

* * *

A/N: Success! I had hoped to get Haku in here, but it was too good of a stopping point to pass up. On the other hand, I think my chapters are getting shorter. We'll see what happens next time, eh?

(and no, i'm not Canadian, I just like the phrase sometimes)

And Sasuke is getting stronger with his teammates. Ha. He's still not my favorite character in the manga (currently, he doesn't have emotion for the position), but I do like playing with his mind.

Sincerely,

Fia


	13. Chapter 13

Haku raised his free hand and ran his long, slender fingers through the dark locks to smooth the kinks out. He had already dressed in a simple kimono with a plain _obi_ and the traditional geta. His outfit in addition to his feminine looks ensured that he would not be perceived as a threat while on his outing in the forest surrounding the small village with its half-completed bridge.

The basket he carried bore only a handful of the herbs he was looking for, plus a few he had found that were good for combating fever. Zabuza-sama showed no signs of infection, and the wounds that Haku had not inflicted himself had been small. Still, it helped to be prepared. Their next job might include some wounds that would need more serious attention than simply a week of bed rest.

Haku smiled at the bird that perched on his shoulder. Animals had always been attracted to him, even during the short summers in the village of his birth. Briefly, Haku wondered if he would be able to build a cage or two for the birds in order to take them with him when he and Zabuza left. The rabbit that Haku had cared for had been needed for the sake of the mission. Granted, it had only spent a few weeks in a cage, being carried around by a nuke-nin and his companion, but it was enough to make the rabbit jump at the first chance of freedom it was offered when the Konoha nin discovered it then quickly released it.

A sudden tingling at the back of Haku's neck, a sensation that he shared the forest with more than merely the birds, cause Haku to tense with alertness. A sharp jerk of his head dislodged the bird on his shoulder, and Haku's eyes fell on a splash of orange that looked severely out of place on the forest floor. A boy lay on his back amidst the foliage under a tree. The birds didn't seem to mind the intrusion as they perched on the boy's fingers and chest without waking the sleeping figure.

Then, a glint of metal caught Haku's eye. The symbol for Konohagakure shone brightly from the thin, bright hitai-ate that rested on the boy's forehead, and Haku recognized his enemy. He was the one who had driven a kunai into Zabuza-sama's bunshin, the loudest of all the Konoha shinobi.

Haku's eyes narrowed for a brief moment. Then he walked gracefully up to the boy's prone form, still oblivious in sleep, and stretched out one hand.

"Hey, wake up."

* * *

Kaeru ran his left thumb over the palm of his right hand. The symbol on his palm didn't smudge, but it didn't disappear either. For a moment, Kaeru simply stared at the kanji, a copy of the symbol that Yamato-sempai had always used to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra when Uzumaki Naruto started to lose control. It was now a permanent feature of Kaeru's body and chakra system. He curled his fingers into a fist, covering the seal briefly before he returned his attention to his target.

The tree behind Tazuna's house was already peppered with dents and kunai, but it wasn't exactly the same kind of training as Sasuke and Naruto were currently punishing themselves to master. Kaeru flipped another kunai from his pouch into his right hand and gently called on the familiar feeling of his own chakra. Then, marking the tree for death, he flipped the weapon into the bark of the tree. The blade sunk halfway into the wood of the tree, a little less than Kaeru was hoping for.

"Where's the dobe?"

The cold demand came from the house behind Kaeru, but he didn't bother to turn around as he snagged another kunai from his pouch.

"I know of no one by such a name, teme," he answered Sasuke playfully and flicked his wrist to drive the chakra-loaded kunai into the tree.

"Naruto."

Kaeru looked over his shoulder at the second voice. He didn't know Sakura had been watching him as well. The girl had her hands clasped in front of her dress and chewed on her lip worriedly.

"Did he stay out all night training again?" inquired the sole kunoichi on the team.

"Seems that way." Kaeru gave her a sympathetic smile—it wasn't her fault she got stuck with such stubborn-headed teammates.

It had been nearly a full week since their encounter with Zabuza on the road had left Kakashi injured and Zabuza debilitated. Naruto had spent every night since hearing of Inari's father out in the woods training until he was too tired to do anything but drag himself back to Tazuna's house to eat, sleep, then repeat the process after breakfast. Kaeru couldn't fault the boy; after all, Kaeru was doing pretty much the same thing.

Staring at the kunai in his hand, Kaeru dismissed thoughts of climbing trees for his own goal of piercing one. He had been working on his own version of the training exercise Sarutobi Asuma had once taught him for the past two days. He only channeled a minute amount of chakra into each kunai, just enough to give it more of an edge but not enough to cause any pain to his seals, even after a full day of the exercise. When the blade in his hand glowed with a covering of pale blue, Kaeru hurled the weapon at the tree. Like all the others, the blade buried itself in the tree to the hilt and halted its advance there.

Sasuke scoffed quietly, and Kaeru snapped his head over his shoulder with a frown. He was trying hard enough to figure out how to fight without killing himself without the twelve-year-old jerk making any comments. Sasuke held Kaeru's gaze for a moment, just long enough to remind Kaeru that Sasuke, though still a jerk, was still also twelve. He was a kid, and he wasn't the same as the last time Kaeru had seen his friend. Shaking his head, Kaeru looked back to his tree and studied his previous attempts.

"Naruto's going to kill himself this way," Sasuke called from behind the redhead.

Kaeru wasn't sure if Sasuke was deliberately ignoring Kaeru's weird behavior—namely his inability to hold a frown for longer than thirty seconds—or just dismissing it as an insanity that could well have been a trait in all Uzumaki. Still, it was a protest that required a response.

"Nah." Kaeru smirked and walked up to the tree. "He'll probably outlive everyone only to get killed by a couple bandits on the road."

His shoulders shook with the effort, but Kaeru managed not to laugh. He didn't want to have to explain exactly why his inside joke was so funny. Kaeru grabbed a kunai halfway up the trunk; it was leftover from last night and hadn't been embedded into the wood quite as deep, thus easy to pull out.

"But, didn't he even come in to sleep last night?" Sakura asked worriedly as Kaeru returned to his spot.

"No," the older genin answered shortly.

Kaeru frowned at the tree, but more at Sakura's question than his opponent of wood. He had checked Naruto's bedroll that morning before he came out. It hadn't been slept in. The fact in and of itself wasn't really worrying. Naruto always had a hell of an immune system, and there was little risk of him getting sick from exposure to the night air or using up too much chakra. The fox would be hard-pressed to allow either.

Missing-nin, on the other hand, were a little bit harder to predict.

Kaeru drew on the chakra reserves he knew were still in his body and pumped his kunai full of as much of his own wind-natured chakra as he dared without summoning the more tainted chakra that his seals were supposed to keep back. His eyes zeroed in on his target, and he let the blade soar. The shinobi knife pierced the kunai-peppered tree and toar through a second tree behind it before it sunk into a thicker, older tree—eight meters behind Kaeru's original target.

Kaeru craned his neck to judge the distance between his one success and the tree he had limited himself to for the past two days. A tingling sensation traveled from his right shoulder all the way to the tips of his fingers—a sharp burning like someone had pinched all the nerves in his arm—and reminded him exactly why he had been holding back. Kaeru's hand slipped into his pocket to fetch the glove that usually covered the seal on his palm. He tugged it on quickly, deciding that the kunai could wait a few hours to be collected.

"I'm gonna go look for Naruto," Kaeru announced and started into the forest where he knew Naruto would be. With his presence on the mission, there were too many variables this time. He wanted to think that Haku would never kill anyone he didn't have to. He certainly hadn't killed Sasuke that first time when he had every opportunity. But could anyone be trusted to remain as they always had been when Kaeru himself had changed so much?

Kaeru cricked his head over his shoulder and glanced back at the dark-haired boy who was still staring at him in clear suspicion.

"Ya comin' or stayin', Uchiha?" Kaeru demanded with a smirk.

The suspicion was unnerving, but the annoyed frown at being caught in a mood other than 'I-am-better-than-you-and-everyone-knows-it' was a little more familiar. Kaeru paused just long enough to let Sasuke make up his mind. Together they tramped into the woods in search of a wayward teammate. And Kaeru suspected that some changes just might be for the good in the long run. Maybe even the short.

* * *

"Hey, is this the stuff you wanted?" Naruto demanded, holding a thin, green stalk delicately between two fingers.

"Yes," the visitor answered with a smile. The kid wore a plain kimono and had long dark hair, even longer than Sakura-chan's.

His guest had woken Naruto up where he had plopped down last night, too exhausted even to drag himself back to Tazuna's house where he had a mattress waiting for him. As far as he was concerned, the forest floor was plenty comfortable for a short rest before he started again.

"Thank you for helping me."

Naruto broke off thoughts of chakra and tree climbing to grin at his new acquaintance.

"No problem." He waved off the thanks with a nonchalant hand. "Whoever you're gathering these for must need them."

She said she had been in the forest to collect herbs for a sick friend. Naruto knew being sick was no fun, and the girl was pretty anyway, so like a good hero he agreed to help her out.

"Why are you out here so early?" asked the soft voice.

"Training!" Naruto replied immediately.

"You have a hitai-ate," the older kid noted. "You're a ninja?"

"You noticed?" Naruto beamed at the wide dark eyes that gazed back at him. "Yeah, I'm a ninja of Konoha."

He wondered if there was something about him that let people know that he was shinobi. Besides the forehead protector, of course. But Kaeru-nii had him pointing out off-duty shinobi, and Naruto was getting pretty good at it. That meant that there was something about a ninja that set them apart from everyone else. Naruto hoped that he could have that someday. Preferably soon.

"Why are you training?"

"So that I can become stronger," was the immediate answer. Everything hinged on becoming stronger.

"You already look pretty strong," commented the girl. "Why . . . ?"

Naruto sat up a little straighter as she trailed off, her sentence lingering between them unfinished. This was going good. First the girl could tell that he was a ninja just by looking, and now she could tell that he was strong. Not quite strong enough, though.

"I need to become the strongest ninja in my village so that everyone will have to acknowledge me," explained Naruto.

If he was strong, then people would stop looking at him with such hatred in their eyes. Like Kaeru-nii said, it would get better. Besides, there was still the mission to consider, since Konoha nin never back down from a mission. And that kid was still crying over something that Naruto understood better than the kid thought.

"And also," Naruto began in a softer voice, "I need to prove something to someone."

"To someone else, then?" His companion cocked her head in a curious manner, which made Naruto frown at the strange behavior. The girl let out a soft giggle, and Naruto's face became even more confused. Girls were weird.

"Do you have someone who is precious to you?" inquired the dark-haired girl.

It was Naruto's turn to cock his head as he puzzled the stranger's meaning. A person could be precious?

"When a person has something precious to protect, that's when they become truly strong," she explained.

The contemplative look that crossed Naruto's face looked slightly out of place on one so young, but knowing no other life, Naruto didn't think of it. He was thinking of his cousin, Uzumaki Kaeru, the one he wanted to protect from whatever was eating him inside out. He thought of Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan; even Sasuke-teme was his friend now, a person to get strong along with. Naruto liked having someone to measure himself against, and who better than Konoha's Rookie of the Year—not that the title really meant anything to Naruto.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."

The kid staring at him gave him a serious look before nodding once, like Kaeru sometimes did when Naruto had come up with the right answer.

"You will become strong." She stood up, taking her filled basket with her.

Suddenly, her eyes flickered to the forest that surrounded them. Curious, Naruto followed her gaze and saw a familiar shock of red hair that made him beam, showing off nearly all the teeth in his mouth.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii-san!" Naruto shouted as he lifted one hand and waved vigorously at his cousin. Kaeru smiled back with one side of his mouth going slightly higher than the other. That smile always made him look cool, and Naruto hoped he could pull that off someday.

"Whacha doin', gaki?" Kaeru approached Naruto and the standing girl as Sasuke emerged from behind a tree, following behind the older genin. Naruto paid him little mind.

"Ah, she needed some plants," explained Naruto, pointing at the girl, "so I'm helping."

"Good," Kaeru declared at his little cousin before he turned to the girl. "Ohayo."

He gave her a dimmed smile with his greeting. Kaeru was slightly taller than the girl, but she still stood straight and looked him in the eye as she bowed her head in return.

"I apologize," the girl murmured. "I have to get back."

"Understandable," said Kaeru, but his eyes stayed fixed on her in the way that always meant he was thinking hard about something.

As the girl turned her back and started walking away, Naruto opened his mouth to suggest that his cousin actually do something. Maybe Kaeru could walk the girl home or something. That was a hero-thing-to-do, wasn't it? But then, Kaeru dropped his serious look and nodded to the girl.

"See ya later," he bade at the figure's back.

Naruto turned as well, a bit happier now that he realized that she probably lived in the village and he and Kaeru could see her again when the mission was done. Or before.

"Yeah, see ya, lady!" Naruto called, louder than Kaeru had since the girl was farther away now.

When Naruto turned around to face his cousin, he caught the amused smirk on Sasuke's face. The one that he wore when he clearly thought that he was better than Naruto. Naruto immediately scowled. And it had started out as such a good morning, too.

"What, teme?" he demanded.

Sasuke just shook his head and scoffed.

"Dobe."

Naruto glared, not that it did much of anything to Sasuke, and raised his fist to punch the smirk off the bastard's face.

"That was a guy, gaki," Kaeru suddenly interjected. He looked faintly amused, as well, but the head jerk in the general direction that Naruto's morning companion had left in shocked the displeasure right out of Naruto.

"What!" He stared in the same direction as if he could catch a glimpse of the person in question. "But he's even girlier than Sakura-chan!"

"Watch the throat, not the face, gaki." Kaeru tapped the back of his fingers lightly against the knot of cartilage in the center of his throat, just above his windpipe. "Ya hungry?"

Naruto barely considered the question before shaking his head emphatically. He had practically stuffed himself again the night before, and he could always eat later. He hadn't been lying about needing to get stronger. Kaeru nodded, unsurprised.

"Didn't think so," he muttered more to himself than the enthusiastic boy. "Well, let's get goin' then."

Kaeru started walking to a fresh tree, ignoring the one that Naruto had spent the night marking up.

"What do ya wanna bet you both get this mastered by the end of the day?" he asked casually.

"You really think so, Kaeru-nii?" Naruto leapt to his side and grinned, ignoring the silent brooding boy who followed them.

"Sure." Kaeru just shrugged then glanced down at the shorter Uzumaki. "You master this today, what do you want me to pay?"

"Ramen!" Naruto shouted the first thing that came into his mind. Wave didn't have practically anything except rice and fish, and Naruto was missing his daily supplement of noodles. Next time his team had a mission outside of Konoha, he would have to make sure he packed extra ramen.

Kaeru laughed loudly, briefly, and grinned.

"Fine," he agreed. "You make it up the tree, I'll treat you to ramen when we get back to Konoha."

"Yosh!" Naruto pumped one fist in the air and strode to a new tree, determination chasing the last remnants of distraction from his mind. At least, the last except for one last remark by his cousin.

"You, too."

Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Kaeru staring right at an antisocial, if not confused, Uchiha.

"I did say both of you," Kaeru explained with his eyes still on Sasuke.

Sasuke just 'humph'-ed loudly and turned to his own tree. Naruto wrinkled his nose at the obvious rudeness of the other boy before he set his concentration back on the tree. Even if he didn't like Kaeru—which was a sin in and of itself—who in their right mind would turn down free ramen?

* * *

Kakashi limped his way deeper into the forest with Sakura at his side, just in case. His side was healing quickly despite the lack of any med-nin or healing jutsu. His biggest problem currently was the mere fact that his energy was sapped; he doubted that he could pull off even a C-rank jutsu in his condition. It was annoying, but he would be back to full capacity in another day, two at the most. Right now, he was focused more on his students.

They were all taking their duty much more seriously than he thought them capable of when he first heard their introductions on top of the Shinobi Academy. Naruto and Sasuke were staying out all day—sometimes longer—to master the chakra control exercise that he had assigned them. Sakura had been going to the bridge every day with her protection detail, and Kaeru—

Kaeru had been splitting himself three ways nearly every day. Kakashi was sure that the kid's real body was the one protecting Tazuna with Sakura, but Naruto reported, in his boasting, ever-enthusiastic way, that his cousin also stuck with the two boys practicing the tree-climbing exercise. Plus, Kakashi had seen the redheaded genin circling Tazuna's house occasionally when he was supposedly with Tazuna and Sakura on the bridge.

Kakashi had woken to quiet, a usual state of being only when Naruto was absent from the scene. He soon discovered from Sakura that Naruto had spent the night in the forest, training, and Kaeru and Sasuke had gone to look for him. After a brief once-around the house, just to check for any major differences in the landscape, Kakashi agreed that the two of them should check on their wayward team. Sakura had been quiet during the trek through the forest, and Kakashi had been too busy looking at the trees, most of which were marked with at least twenty or so scratches at varying levels. On one tree, the marks started two meters up, then a tree slightly beyond that was clear until about three meters off the ground. The boys were obviously progressing.

Sakura and Kakashi passed through a small clearing before ducking back into the speckled sunlight under the foliage before Kakashi realized they had found them. Despite his physical state, he was too used to searching for obvious chakra signatures to miss the blond genin about six meters above his head.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted. "Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi cocked his head at the same time as Sakura suddenly jerked her eyes skyward. Naruto stood on a branch three stories from the ground, grinning down at his teammate and teacher.

"Naruto!" called Sakura in obvious surprise.

By tilting his head slightly, Kakashi caught sight of Sasuke's dark figure on another tree, the branch not even half a meter higher than Naruto's, which Kakashi guessed was intentional. But, despite the inherent rivalry between the two, Kakashi supposed that his two genin would be fine.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun." Sakura smiled up at the dark boy, and Kakashi knew that her attention—for the moment—was lost.

Kakashi thought that he should probably do something about the girl's infatuation, at least the part that interfered with her concentration at times. But he had no idea how. His only real experience with the situation had been his own team and Rin's relationship with both her boys. But his own team had not turned out well, and whatever other legacies Hatake Kakashi could claim, he was not his sensei.

Suddenly, Naruto flung his arms out and whooped wildly as his center of gravity shifted backwards. Kakashi's eye involuntarily widened when he saw his student lean back precariously. He wouldn't be fast enough to catch the boy, and in his condition, a transportation jutsu would either get him only halfway to his destination or knock him out entirely. Kakashi saw Sasuke rounding the trunk of the tree as Sakura let out an alarmed cry and hoped that his student was faster than he was.

And then there was no need for Sasuke or Kakashi to do anything because Naruto was firmly attached to the underside of the branch, grinning down at his audience triumphantly.

"Don't scare us like that!" Sakura shouted up at the boy, then added in a softer voice: "Baka."

Kakashi felt his shoulders slump at being caught in a second of Naruto's pranks while Sakura berated her teammate loudly.

Then, a taller figure, mostly in red, dropped onto the branch that Naruto's feet were still glued to.

"Boo," Kaeru called lightly.

Kakashi hadn't thought to keep searching for Kaeru after he had sensed his two genin, so the young man's appearance was somewhat surprising but not alarming. Naruto, on the other hand, was taken by such surprise that he jumped. Which probably wasn't the best idea considering he had nothing to land on when gravity overtook chakra control. Kaeru's hand shot out and wrapped around one of Naruto's ankles, jerking him back up so that the boy hung on the branch by his knees. From the look on his face, Naruto was neither impressed by Kaeru's display of speed nor very happy at the scare his cousin had given him. Kaeru just chuckled and let Naruto hang on the branch like a kid rather than a ninja.

"So," Kaeru smiled widely in a way that Kakashi couldn't help but link to Naruto's previous grin, "whatcha think about this team, Hatake Kakashi?"

Kakashi refused to let his gaze travel obviously by any means, but his senses took their course in confirming the locations of all three genin up in the trees. Naruto and Kaeru remained poised on the same branch, upside down and right-side up, while Sasuke had moved to stand horizontally on his trunk, his face settling into passive huff at the antics before him. Sakura, for her part, was simply studying the boys above her, as if confirming that they were all truly all right.

And yet, despite his observations, Kakashi really felt no compelling desire to answer Kaeru's question truthfully—or at least not openly. He wasn't going to say that he was proud of his students for working so hard, especially under dire circumstances. He wasn't going to mention that he had been almost giddy when he decided that this team was the one he could pass because they actually got the idea that teammates were important. And he definitely wasn't going to reveal that this was the first team he truly cared about since he lost his own teammates under one of Konoha's strongest Hokage.

But, shinobi were masters of deception, and Kakashi had made an art of appearing to be a hip, slightly perverted man who didn't really mind not having to do any work.

"I think you should get down from the tree before Naruto loses the death grip he has on that branch," he replied calmly.

Above him, Naruto glared past his tense muscles and white knuckles with all the indignation of a boy who was trying his best not to show any weakness. Kaeru threw back his hand and laughed again.

* * *

Miraculously, Kaeru managed to convince Naruto and Sasuke to return to Tazuna's house before sunset—albeit with some coaxing and prodding. Both boys had made it to the top of the canopy after Kakashi and Sakura left, giving Kaeru silent permission to stay behind with the boys. Kaeru still had a few bunshin at the bridge, for the sake of helping the old man, but his attention was fixed on getting Naruto and Sasuke up the tree so they could go home and rest before tomorrow. If he remembered correctly, Zabuza and Haku would be making a deadly appearance pretty soon.

Naruto had been reluctant to cut down on any training time, but at least he could be persuaded to annoy Kakashi into letting them all protect Tazuna as a team once again. Kakashi, who was hobbling around Tazuna's house without his crutches, agreed over supper that Naruto and Sasuke could join Sakura on the bridge since their teacher was recovered enough to supervise.

Kaeru leaned back on the bench he sat on, pleased with the day's events as well as his teammates' accomplishments. Sasuke and Sakura sat across from him, finished with their meal. Sakura tried to engage her teammate in a bland conversation about rice balls and favorite flavors of umeboshi, but Sasuke wasn't being very cooperative. Naruto, having stuffed himself almost as well as that first night, folded his arms on the table in front of him and rested his head with a happy chuckle, completely satisfied with his life at the moment. Really, it never took that much to make Uzumaki Naruto happy.

A slight trembling caught Kaeru's eye, and he watched the smallest boy at the table carefully, waiting.

"Why do you try so hard?" Inari demanded suddenly, anger and tears making his voice crack more than it should have. "You can't win. You're just going to die!"

"At least I'm not like you," replied Naruto in a cold tone that sailed hot past gritted teeth.

Sakura turned her head in surprise at the blond while Kaeru couldn't help but watch Sasuke's face shift from bored into attentive.

"You think it's okay to star in your own tragedy?" Naruto continued, apparently oblivious of the attention he was getting. "When your dad died for this village and your grandpa's risking his life to help it?"

He glared at the kid who had tears spilling over his eyes and a shocked look on his face while Kaeru did nothing to stop him.

"Go ahead and pout, then," Naruto sneered, "you big crybaby."

Sakura was shocked enough to break out of her stupor and become at least a little indignant.

"N-Naruto!" she choked out, perhaps more shocked that Naruto had been so harsh with an annoying brat than at the fact that no swear words were used in his speech.

"I'm going to bed." Naruto just pushed himself away from the table and trudged upstairs without meeting anyone's eye.

Inari watched Naruto's back before it disappeared in the darkness of the stairway. Then the boy clambered from the table himself and dashed outside into the dark, keeping his head down so that his tear-streaked face was hidden.

"Naruto shouldn't have said that," murmured Sakura quietly.

The only response to her statement was Kakashi raising from his cross-legged position on the floor and walking quietly after Inari. Kaeru wasn't sure what the purpose of the one-eyed jounin was, but he wasn't about to stop him.

"The kid was being annoying," protested Sasuke in a rare sight of affirmation toward Naruto.

"Still, Naruto didn't have to be so mean," Sakura replied with her eyes cast down to the table in front of her.

"It hurts to lose someone," blurted Kaeru before he really knew whom he was addressing. He glanced over his shoulder at the staircase. "Hurts when you don't have anyone in the first place, too. But both of them get you the same place."

Kaeru glanced up and met Sakura's wide, green eyes, noting also that Sasuke's gaze was fixed on him in a serious manner that was almost sympathetic.

"It's a Rule: being alone is hell," he declared firmly. "Inari doesn't know that. Not quite."

Not wanting to continue the current trail of conversation—it was already bringing up too many memories Kaeru would have chosen to push to the back of his mind permanently—the redhead stood up and shoved his gloved hands into his pockets as he ascended the stairs, looking for the room that he shared with Naruto and Sasuke. He found Naruto on his bedroll, staring moodily at the wall.

"Hi," Kaeru muttered softly.

Naruto shifted on the mattress but didn't bother meeting his cousin's eye. Kaeru watched the young back tense then lowered himself onto the mattress beside Naruto, facing the door instead of the wall.

"I'm not gonna yell at you," he announced in an attempt to put Naruto slightly more at ease.

"Crying never helped anyone," muttered the boy solemnly.

"No," Kaeru agreed. "You're right."

He couldn't think of anything else to say after that. Naruto was right, after all. Maybe there could have been a better way to tell Inari that, but Kaeru couldn't think of one off the top of his head. An itch on his right palm made Kaeru slip off his glove and study the mark on his palm. Still there; still unchanged.

"D'you need help?" Naruto suddenly asked. The movement apparently caught his attention.

"Sure." Kaeru shifted in place so that his back rested against the wall, his legs folded in front of him. "The ink's in my—"

"I know." Naruto was already up and dashing across the room to retrieve the canvas pack that was Kaeru's. He lugged it back to the mattress and fished out the mixing block and brushes.

"Does it hurt?" Naruto demanded as Kaeru sliced open his thumb, a wound that wouldn't even leave a scar by morning.

"No," Kaeru answered truthfully. He didn't count the tingling sensation that morning since that was hardly painful. "It's weird."

Naruto frowned at that even as he took up a thick brush and loaded it with bloodied ink.

"What's weird?"

"That they don't hurt." Kaeru frowned as he stared at his right palm. "I thought they were getting worse. But I spent most of yesterday and this morning using my own chakra without even touching the poisoned stuff."

He rarely referred to Kyuubi's chakra by name—if Kyuubi could even be considered a name and not just a reference or title. He could have called it the demon's chakra, that was by far a greater generalization but still true. He just didn't like spitting out his state of being so easily, even around Naruto.

"Isn't that a good thing?" postulated Naruto as he reached for Kaeru's left hand.

"Hey, this one first." Kaeru held out his right hand, palm up, to Naruto. "And it's not good. I don't know what's happening to that chakra."

Naruto stopped his work and glanced up at his cousin worriedly. Kaeru smirked and wiggled his fingers in Naruto's hand.

"Don't worry, gaki," he commanded lightly. "It'll get better."

His smile slowly drooped as he looked back to the brush hovering over his marked skin.

"Not sure how yet, but it'll get better."

* * *

Haku had been quiet ever since his return that morning. Granted, Haku was usually quiet, but this seemed more contemplative than simple lack of things to say. Either way, it was starting to get on Zabuza's nerves. Especially since he was already itching to get back to work now that his muscles had basically returned to their usual strength.

"We'll attack in the morning," announced the nuke-nin into the silence.

When the silence continued in lieu of an affirmation, Zabuza felt irritation clawing at his inner organs.

"Haku." He made simply the name a demand without even asking a question.

"The ninja that fought alongside Hatake Kakashi is brother to one of the genin," Haku answered with his head still bent over the plants he had picked that morning. His perch on a small stool with the shallow basket in his lap did not make him seem tall or threatening in any way.

"So?" Zabuza sneered. He knew the fundamental idea behind bonds, the emotions they had the power to invoke. He also made sure that he was never caught in such trappings.

"I believe he will fight more fiercely if his family is in danger," replied Haku calmly.

"Leave the redhead and Hatake to me," Zabuza ground out impatiently. "Your task is to distract the genin."

"Hai, Zabuza-sama." Haku nodded then went back to his task.

Zabuza turned away from the boy with a frown and studied the apple beside his bed. Haku had placed it there should his master become hungry. Even after years as Zabuza's tool, Haku was still soft. The boy could kill in the blink of an eye, Zabuza had no doubt about that; and his kekkai genkai was a useful advantage. But Haku was the one to care for any animals they kept occasionally—before the rabbit it had been a squirrel before Zabuza found that the animal was too small, had barely enough natural energy to sense and switch with. Haku also could convince people that he was normal and friendly to such a degree that Zabuza wondered sometimes if he was actually faking such friendliness.

"Haku," he called as he picked up the small fruit. "I don't want any complications in this job. Kill the brats if you have to."

"Hai, Zabuza-sama," Haku agreed once more.

Satisfied, Zabuza tightened his grip on the apple until the flesh parted in chunks beneath the claw-like vice his fingers formed. Haku may be soft but he would never go against his master.

* * *

Sasuke walked outside after his morning toilet just in time to catch the end of an argument between the two Uzumaki.

"Then make some kage bunshin," ordered Kaeru, standing in front of his shorter cousin, "but either you or them are staying here."

Sasuke frowned at the command as well as the tone. Kaeru almost sounded like an older brother bossing around his younger counterpart, but it was far too serious and lacked the sense of superiority for that. Kaeru sounded like a commander giving orders.

"Why?" Naruto frowned in response.

"'Cuz this is Gatou, and he's mean and a bully, and he won't hesitate to kill Tazuna's family if he can't get the old man." Kaeru folded his arms across his chest and waited patiently for Naruto to let the words sink in.

Naruto glanced over the house behind Sasuke, apparently missing the Uchiha completely in his solemnity, then looked back at his cousin.

"Okay," he agreed with a nod. "How many?"

"Between two and five," answered Kaeru. "We don't wanna attract too much attention."

Naruto held his hands up in a cross-like hand seal and replicated himself with a murmur and a puff of smoke.

"Good. You remember how to patrol?" Kaeru the commander was back.

All figures of Naruto nodded as one then broke off to circle the house where Tsunami and Inari were still sleeping. Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets to make himself look casual and approached the two cousins.

"Hey, Sasuke," greeted Kaeru in a rare mention of his given name. All the authority in his gaze had faded into a friendly half-smile. "The others are already waiting for us. You ready?"

A slight jerk of Sasuke's chin acknowledged the question, and they started to the road where Sakura, Kakashi, and Tazuna were waiting.

"What rank did you hold before you came to Konoha?" Sasuke asked bluntly. He was half-expecting the answer to be 'chuunin.' A chuunin would know how to order subordinates around, and Kaeru could hold his own at least partially against someone like Zabuza. He couldn't be jounin, could he? Kaeru seemed a little young for that title, but then Itachi had made chuunin at ten years old then practically skipped his way into his role as ANBU captain when he was thirteen.

"Why does everyone ask me that?" Kaeru threw his hands up in the air dramatically. "I was genin. I only took the Chuunin Exams _once_, and I was an idiot."

Kaeru shot a pointed glare at Sasuke at the end of his explanation. It didn't make Sasuke believe him any more.

"What's the Chuunin Exams?" demanded Naruto curiously.

"What you have to take to get to the next rank," answered Kaeru, much calmer now. "It's usually three different tests you have to take, a couple with your team but then you go through individual fights."

"Did you lose your fight?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide.

Sasuke suspected that Naruto didn't believe that his almighty older cousin could ever lose a fight, at least not one that was testing strength.

"No, I won." Kaeru's eyes fell to the ground in front of his feet as he kicked up a small cloud of dirt. "I couldn't protect my teammates. A chuunin needs to be able to do that."

Kaeru looked to Naruto at his final declaration, as if to impress the importance of his statement on the genin. Sasuke shook his head to get rid of the feeling that he was eavesdropping on a conversation taking place right beside his shoulder. He ignored the niggling feeling at the back of his mind that reminded him he knew the pain of not being able to protect the ones he wanted to. And that he knew exactly what being alone felt like.

They met up with the other three on the road and started down through the village toward the great bridge that Tazuna was sure would be his country's salvation. As long as he lived to finish it. Sakura fell into step with Sasuke while Tazuna and Kakashi led the way, not talking of much of anything. Behind him, Sasuke could hear Naruto and Kaeru's animated conversation and tried to forget about the times that he could see a strength in Kaeru that was far beyond what he claimed.

* * *

A/N: Now _this_ is really late. And as much as I'd like to blame it on finals and the act of moving home and getting resettled for three months of summer, some of it is entirely due to the fact that I now have wireless and have discovered the wonders of hulu (who doesn't like free tv?).

Anyway, this turned out a little longer than I originally anticipated, but Zabuza stormed in somewhere and demanded the spotlight for a little while, and one should never argue with a man who has a giant sword. Besides, I still really like him and Haku. The next chapter should have even more of them, plus some blood, guts, and all-around awesomeness (which I hope doesn't take me all of four weeks to upload).

On a completely unrelated note, the Pein arc is finally completed in the manga, and I am torn between being overjoyed at the outcome (told you he was one of my favorite villains) and crying "Cop-out!" at Kishimoto-sama. But considering my love of one-eyed jounin, I'm not complaining.

Sincerely,

Fia


	14. Chapter 14

Kaeru was prepared for something to go wrong on the bridge. He wasn't prepared for the bodies.

"What happened here!" shouted Tazuna as he raced for one of the fallen men.

Kaeru scanned the bridge quickly, looking over the handful of workers that had arrived early. Most were dead, and those that weren't were dying, like the man that Tazuna knelt by.

"A monster," gasped the man on the stone bridge. "It . . . was a monster."

A chill crept over Kaeru's skin that was purely physical this time. He knew what the mist surrounding them foreshadowed, and he knew what to expect from the man that had created it.

"Not this again," Naruto groaned as the mist grew thicker, but he withdrew a kunai from his pouch and held it defensively.

"Surround Tazuna," Kakashi ordered as he took his own position at point.

The four genin moved swiftly and obediently; Sakura on Kakashi's right while Naruto took his left side. Kaeru stood nearly opposite of Kakashi, at Tazuna's back, with Sasuke between him and Naruto.

"So you're still around, Kakashi," the familiar voice issued from the surrounding mist. "With your kids."

"I am _not _that young," growled Kaeru in a futile attempt to wash away the sudden tension that accompanied Kirigakure no Jutsu.

"Look, one of them is shaking." Zabuza sounded distinctly amused, and Kaeru's eyes shifted immediately to find Naruto.

Naruto's mouth was pressed into a thin line, but he stood resolved and firm. It was Sasuke who held his kunai in front of him despite the tremors that shook his body. Kaeru stretched his hand toward the boy in case he had to jerk Sasuke out of the pit of despair again. But he thought Sasuke was stronger than that. Or maybe he was just mixing up a short genin with the cold-hearted mask that Sasuke would become. _Could _become.

A ripple of chakra made the hairs on Kaeru's arms stand on end for a moment before the small, under-prepared team was surrounded with five identical figures of Momochi Zabuza, one in front of each of them. Kaeru suddenly wondered if Sakura would be able to take her opponent on her own and raised his hands, fully prepared to make twice as many Kage Bunshin as Zabuza had Mizu Bunshin if it became necessary.

"Sasuke, go," commanded Kakashi with a lilt in his voice that suggested he was smiling beneath his mask. Which probably meant that he knew something Kaeru had either missed or failed to remember.

By the time Kaeru looked back at Sasuke to try to determine what Kakashi was ordering him to do, the boy was already moving. Kaeru could only follow Sasuke because he knew the training, but Kaeru had never been that smooth. A swift slice across the bunshin in front of Kaeru became an uppercut through the stomach of the figure in front of Sakura-chan. So fast that the two clones seemed to melt into water at the same time. Sasuke continued his way around the circle and ended with his arms spread wide, crouched in front of Kaeru with a kunai in each hand.

"I'm shaking with excitement," Sasuke sneered at the mist with pride seeping into his tone.

"Showoff," Kaeru scoffed to keep the boy firmly rooted on the ground and in the battle they were currently fighting. He was about to throw out another brief insult—it was his most familiar way of communicating with Sasuke, after all—when his senses brushed against a presence that he recognized only because he had studied it intently the previous day. "Kakashi, there's two—"

"I see them," Kakashi interrupted.

Kaeru turned his head to the side so that he could just see, from the corner of his eye, Zabuza and Haku emerging from the mist before Kakashi. The giant sword strapped to his back almost made look taller than he was, and Haku's mask successfully hid his youthful face that looked too innocent for a hunter nin.

"You _were _working with him!" Naruto pointed at Haku insistently. "You were a bad guy all along!"

"Naruto," murmured Kaeru warningly. The last thing they needed was for Naruto to make himself a better target.

"You've already seen my Sharingan twice." Kakashi pushed up his hitai-ate swiftly. "No one has seen it three times and lived."

"I survived your last prediction, Copy-nin," Zabuza replied easily. "Haku, get the brats."

Kaeru heard the trickling of water before he saw the small stream that was gathering at his feet. But remembering Haku also meant he had never forgotten the boy's story: hated for the power his blood gave him.

"Move!"

Kaeru wrapped an arm around Tazuna's waist and physically lifted the bridge builder off his own bridge. Sakura leaped forward to make room, and Kaeru pulled Tazuna away from the circle of water on the bridge. Kaeru all but shoved Tazuna away as soon as he landed so that he could turn around to face his opponent properly. He wasn't surprised to see a ring of mirrors, clear as glass and cold as ice, enclosing two boys in a structure that lowered the temperature enough to create a clearing of the mist.

"Shit," muttered Kaeru. He was hoping to avoid Haku's Makyou Hyoushou this time.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled and waited for a confirmation that her teammates were still okay.

"Your brats are trapped in Haku's jutsu."

Kaeru glanced around to look for Zabuza again, but the mist only afforded a vague outline of a man's figure. And from the way he stood, alert and ready for an attack, Kaeru guessed he was staring at his own sensei rather than Haku's master. Gritting his teeth harshly, Kaeru looked over his shoulder at Sakura and Tazuna. Sakura had crawled to her feet and taken position in front of Tazuna, but her attention was divided between Kaeru and the dome of icy mirrors that contained her boys. Tazuna scanned the mist with a fervency that would probably hurt more than help.

"You can help them, can't you, Kaeru-kun?"

Kaeru's eyes focused back on Sakura at the soft, desperate question. He saw her hope and knew what she was going to say. She wanted him to go and fight while she defended Tazuna. Actually, it might work. Haku couldn't leave the mirrors without dropping the entire jutsu, and as long as Kaeru and Kakashi could keep Zabuza busy, the boys might be able to break out of the jutsu. Kaeru almost flinched. Well, his plans were never deemed as genius, but for lack of a better one . . .

"I'm going to help Kakashi-sensei," he explained to Sakura. "Two of us against one of them. Keep an eye on that dome, but don't call any attention to yourself if you can help it, Sakura-chan."

Sakura nodded vigorously, but Kaeru didn't wait to see Tazuna's reaction at being left with a genin kunoichi for protection. Kaeru brought his hands together once again and reached for his own chakra, not the beast's. Ten Kaerus scattered into the mist to look for their opponent. He wasn't an expert at silent killing like Zabuza was, but Kaeru had the advantage of being everywhere at once.

* * *

By the time Inari woke, his grandfather had already left for the day to work on his bridge. Inari ate a breakfast of rice and eggs and watched the shortest of the ninja that Grandpa had hired, the one that always wore orange, the one that had called him a crybaby. The ninja circled the house several times before disappearing out of sight. Once, Inari thought he had seen two of the orange-clad ninja at the same time, but he didn't pretend to understand what shinobi were capable of. All that mattered was that Gatou was stronger. That was always true, wasn't it?

Inari slipped away to the toilet while his mother cleared the dishes and filled the sink with water that always smell a little bit like silt.

"Inari, come and help me," he heard his mother call.

"I'm in the bathroom!" Inari answered honestly. The fact that he had timed his trip to the bathroom to coincide with doing the dishes didn't come up in his mother's retort.

Inari flushed and pulled up a stool to wash his hands thoroughly. His mother would just check and send him back into the bathroom if he didn't. When Inari turned the stream of water off, he heard a crash from the kitchen rather than the silence that he should have. His first thought was that his mother had dropped a plate or something. That wasn't really like her, but he had done it enough times to know that wet dishes were slippery sometimes.

"Hey, can we play with her first?"

The slimy, amused voice that issued from the kitchen wasn't one that Inari recognized. It wasn't one of Grandpa's friends, and it sounded too evil to want the right kind of playing. Shaking, Inari tiptoed to the door and tried to slide it so that it didn't squeak in its grooves.

"Quit fooling around, Zouri," commanded a second voice, deeper than the first. "We deliver her to Gatou so that her old man pays attention to what he's supposed to do. That's the plan."

The door caught with barely enough room for Inari to squeeze through, but he could see out. Two men, one with light hair and one darker, stood over his mom as she sat heavily, unnaturally, on the floor in front of the sink. The men carried long swords like samurai, and the light-haired one was _leering_. They were Gatou's men, Inari realized with absolute certainty. His breath caught in his throat with a sound like a strangled dog. The dark samurai's head spun around and saw Inari peeking through the bathroom door.

"Hey, a little brat," he noted darkly.

"Inari, run!" Tsunami shouted desperately.

"Can I cut him?" One of the men stepped towards him eagerly. "I really want to cut something."

But Inari was frozen in the doorway. The men were going to kill him. They were going to kill his mother!

"Stop!"

His mother only used that voice when she was _really _mad. Both men turned to look at her while Inari tried to remember how to breathe.

"If you kill my son," threatened Tsunami, "I'll bite through my tongue and drown in my own blood. Then what will you do for a hostage?"

Inari shivered at the picture. He had already seen the man he thought of as a father die, bleeding, broken, and still so stupidly hopeful. If his mother died, too, maybe he would just let the men cut him. But still, he stayed where he was in the doorway, frozen.

"Shit," muttered the light samurai, the one whose sword needed cutting. "Well, he's just a brat, anyway."

"C'mon." The other samurai grabbed Tsunami's arm and jerked her to her feet roughly.

"Ta da! Hero time!"

Inari's eyes widened at the sight of Uzumaki Naruto, self-proclaimed hero, bursting into the house from outside. The boy immediately lashed out against Waraji and managed to slice at the arm that held Tsunami. Waraji cried out in pain and released the woman.

"Damn brat!" growled Zouri.

The man withdrew his sword in one smooth motion and quickly slashed at the boy. Naruto jumped backwards, landing less than a meter away from Inari's frozen place. For a moment, Inari was glad of the outside help. He was no good to his mother, but a shinobi had to be better against a samurai than a stupid, frozen boy.

"Waraji, get the woman," Zouri ordered as he advanced on Naruto.

Waraji obediently grabbed a fistful of Tsunami's dark hair and dragged her to her feet, shoving her towards the door. Inari started to watch their retreat, but then Zouri charged and his eyes were drawn back to the fight in his kitchen. Inari grasped the frame of the door and watched the small shinobi block the sword again with the short knife in his hand. Then, with muscles of an adult that Naruto hadn't formed yet, Zouri pushed the boy back and swung the sword down faster than Naruto could recover.

Inari saw the hope he had denied feeling go up in a poof of smoke. He didn't realize that his legs had given until he hit the floor under him. Zouri grunted in satisfaction and turned to follow his comrade out the door while Inari sobbed at being left behind while the heroes around him all met the same fate.

* * *

Naruto stopped staring at the mirrors around suddenly as a sinking feeling began to grow in the pit of his stomach.

"Inari's in trouble," he murmured with his eyes on the ground.

"Dobe," growled the dark boy beside him. "How do you know?"

"I just know!" Naruto snapped.

Actually, he wasn't sure _how _he knew, but he knew that there were two guys with swords in old man Tazuna's house, and one of them was dragging Tsunami out by her hair. Naruto scanned his prison quickly and saw only reflections of the coldness that surrounded him.

"We gotta get outa here," he decided.

Sasuke sneered at him—Naruto thought he was just doing it to look cool in front of an enemy since eye-rolling wasn't really an option currently—and turned his own attention to the figure that faced them. The almost blank hunter mask stared back at Naruto and Sasuke, but as the boy hadn't really said anything, not even to threaten, so Naruto was only paying attention to him as an obstacle along with the mirrors. Well, if Sasuke wasn't going to do anything—

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The many identical copies of Uzumaki Naruto had one goal and only one in mind from the moment they popped into existence: break the mirrors.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called fiercely, but Naruto decided it was too late to stop.

Within the mass of clones, each one charged for one mirror, fist raised. But one after the other, the clones dispelled suddenly, and Naruto sunk into the realization that however much of a showoff Sasuke was, the hunter nin was faster. The guy had sliced all of Naruto's clones before any of them even hit a mirror.

"Idiot," Sasuke hissed. "Don't waste your energy like that."

Naruto glared back for a brief moment but didn't tell Sasuke that he could make ten times that many clones if he really wanted to.

"Can you melt them?" he asked suddenly.

Sasuke had made a huge-ass fireball during Kakashi-sensei's test, and fire melted ice, right? Sasuke just shot Naruto a confused frown before he returned his attention to the glowering figure above them.

"I can't break the mirrors," Naruto hissed, hoping that the enemy couldn't hear his plan. "Can you melt them?"

A light dawned in Sasuke's eyes, and he glanced at the ninja above them. Sasuke ran through a set of hand seals that Naruto didn't bother to follow. Pinching his thumb and forefinger together, Sasuke held up his hand to his lips like he was blowing a whistle.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The fireball that resulted seemed even larger than Naruto had last seen, and it was headed straight for the masked nin. Naruto could almost bask in the warmth that the fire provided, but then the flames dissipated and the two Konoha genin were once again faced with a mirror of ice holding a flat picture of their enemy.

"It didn't work?" Naruto gaped in disbelief.

"You won't be able to defeat my mirrors with a jutsu of that level," announced the young shinobi.

Okay, that wasn't good.

"Uh, plan B?" suggested Naruto.

A sharp pain shot through his arm before he heard any response from Sasuke. The brief sting was followed by what felt like hundreds of insect bites, only harder. Maybe like thorns or needles. Whatever they were, they _hurt_. Naruto raised his arms to cover his face instinctively. Eventually, the attack stopped, and Naruto dared to look up again. His jacket was punctured in multiple places, and the legs of his pants were ripped and torn. Beside him, Sasuke wasn't looking much better. In fact, Naruto would almost guess that his teammate looked worse with the deep scratch that stretched just below his right cheekbone.

"You can't beat me while you are trapped in my jutsu," came the voice from above both the boys. "To me, your movements look like slow motion."

Naruto was beginning to think that voice was kind of annoying in its all-knowing-ness. Just because he could, Naruto flipped a shiruken out of his pouch and flicked it in the general direction of the ominous voice.

"Shut up!" he shouted. "I'm tryin' to think here!"

"Don't do that." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist and stilled all motion from the other boy.

Naruto decided to ignore this obviously rude behavior for now.

"We need a plan," Naruto retorted.

His plan with the Fuuma Shiruken had been handy against Zabuza that first time, but that was only a bunshin. And this pretend hunter nin wouldn't fall for the same thing. So, Naruto fell back to the first lesson he had learned under Kakashi-sensei: they were supposed to work together.

His grand idea was punctuated with another round of needles flying through the chilled air between the mirrors. Naruto vaulted to his right while Sasuke dodged in the opposite direction. He felt a couple needles sink into his left leg while one embedded itself into his right left arm, just below his elbow. The needle in his arm was sending tingles down his arms to his fingertips, like it had fallen asleep. Annoyed, Naruto jerked the offending weapon out of his skin, shooting a hot stab of pain down his arm that passed into a dull throb. He could work with that.

Naruto looked over at his teammate quickly. Sasuke was still trying to get to his feet while half a dozen needles remained jabbed into both his legs. His dark hair hung in front of his face so that Naruto couldn't tell if the bastard was really in pain or just having trouble with his feet falling asleep like Naruto did with his arm. Either way, he needed his teammate for this.

"Sasuke, we need a plan!" he repeated loudly.

He glanced up in preparation for another attack, but the young ninja just looked down on his prisoners from his place in the mirror. Still keeping an eye on his enemy, Naruto seized the opportunity to dash across the space between him and Sasuke.

"Idiot," Sasuke growled as soon as Naruto pulled up to his side. "Stop distracting me. You can't do anything here."

Sasuke faltered on his injured legs a little, and Naruto's hand shot out to wrap around Sasuke's arm and give support. Sasuke shrugged half-heartedly as if he was trying to dislodge his teammate's help. Naruto gritted his teeth but remembered to keep his voice low.

"We get stronger together!" he hissed at the reluctant boy.

Sasuke's head snapped around to pin Naruto with a surprised look. Why the hell would Sasuke be surprised? Working together was one of the Rules, wasn't it? If Kakashi knew it and Kaeru knew it, it had to be important. Naruto just glared back. Sasuke listened to Kaeru-nii, so Naruto would act like Kaeru-nii.

"Think up a plan, Uchiha," ordered the light-haired genin, "or I'm gonna start hitting things again."

It was a stupid threat; he already knew he couldn't break the mirrors. But he knew that Sasuke didn't seem to want him to do it, so it was the best he could come up with. Sasuke turned his head back to stare at the hunter nin, who hadn't moved from his position yet.

"He's not aiming for our vitals," Sasuke noted softly.

Naruto frowned then cast a glance down at his own body. It was true that the needles and cuts were mostly limited to his arms and legs—with a few scratches across his stomach just for good measure—but he wasn't sure what it meant yet.

"He's not trying to kill us yet." Sasuke looked like he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes as he huffed at Naruto's ignorance. Naruto ignored this yet again. "We're slower than him in here, but he can't keep this up for long."

"So, what's the plan?" Naruto fell serious as well. Between him and Sasuke, they could beat this guy, and then they could help out the rest of their team and save the day.

* * *

Despite the cool and chill that surrounded him, Zabuza found the mist comforting. It was a familiar environment, and one he had worked in for years. The mist effectively blinded not only him but his opponents as well, a perfect defense against a doujutsu like the Sharingan. And with the aid of Mizu Bunshin or even a cleverly-thrown voice, the Hatake wouldn't be able to discern Zabuza's position by sound, either. Zabuza, on the other hand, was a master of silent killing. Even at this distance, he could hear the man's heartbeat. It was calm thus far, heightened only by approximately eight beats per minute; enough to blame on nerves, but not enough for the jounin of Konoha to be considered truly frightened.

Too bad. There was a certain glee to be found in scaring people out of their wits.

But Hatake Kakashi was a jounin, and he was famous. Copy-nin Hatake, son of Konoha's White Fang. The first time Zabuza had faced the man, he had underestimated the strength needed as well as the man's secret weapon in his bloodline. Here was a challenge. This would be different from killing that pathetic excuse for a human, Gatou. Defeating Hatake Kakashi would be hard. But that's what made it fun.

Suddenly, something decidedly solid collided with the back of Zabuza's head, driving the man forward so that he had to put out his hand to keep himself from crushing his nose on the cement of the bridge. He quickly used his momentum to execute a half-flip in mid-air, landing crouched and facing his opponent.

He was actually surprised to see the redheaded young ninja staring back at him.

"Don't suppose you could be convinced to walk away from this?" the boy in front of Zabuza questioned in a tone that was almost disappointed.

Well, it was a stupid question, anyway.

"No," growled Zabuza, unstrapping the sword from his back. What a waste, to use his meat cleaver against a kid like this.

Zabuza swung his blade in a long arc, but it never collided with the flesh of his target. Instead, the boy simply moved to his left, and the sword delved into the concrete by his side. Zabuza frowned briefly. The kid shouldn't have been that fast. He might be able to match Haku.

"We don't want to kill you, Zabuza." The boy paid no attention to the deadly blade and merely stepped back out of range.

Zabuza noted the unusual pattern of speech and suddenly realized how he had been taken by surprise. The kid didn't have a heartbeat; he was a bunshin.

"Then why do you keep trying?" The assassin jerked his blade from where it had sunk into the bridge and balanced it for a moment on his shoulder. Much as he wanted to get back to the killing, a part of him was genuinely curious.

"Well, you did try to kill Sensei." The boy's mouth rose into an amused smile that suggested he was far more okay with that than one would suppose a Konoha shinobi to be.

Konoha had a reputation among the Five Countries for being soft. They produced powerful ninja on occasion, the Sannin for example or Konoha's Yellow Flash, but on the whole, they didn't know what it was to live in a world where being weak would only get you dead.

"You're in my way, kid," Zabuza stated calmly as he pointed his meat cleaver at the kid. "You'll die for that."

At the threat, the kid fell serious but not fearful in any way. Zabuza looked into blue eyes that burned hot and wondered just how soft he could expect this kid, real or fake, to be.

"What about Haku?" demanded the redhead. "You want him to die here?"

"A broken tool is useless to its master," Zabuza recited a rule that the kid should have known. Surprisingly, the kid only got angrier.

"Dammit, Zabuza," he growled. "You care about that kid. More than just a tool. What if he dies?"

Zabuza was beginning to get tired of this. He had a job to do. Killing Hatake Kakashi was just an added perk, but his goal remained the completion of his job so that he could get paid—killing Gatou along the way—and move on.

"The only one dying here is you," Zabuza announced coldly.

Zabuza charged then, wondering at the boy's lack of reaction until the sword came down at the juncture of the kid's neck and shoulder. The resistance of the blade against flesh faded suddenly as the figure in front of him disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Zabuza had been expecting it since the kid had avoided his Water Prison the same way a week ago. But, since the kid hadn't even bothered to block, did that mean that his only purpose had been to talk with Zabuza?

Strange kid.

* * *

"Well, that didn't go well."

Hidden in the mist, Kakashi spun to look in the direction of the new voice even though his ears had already identified it.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's just me."

Kaeru raised his hands in an innocent gesture. Kakashi eyed his companion for a moment. Zabuza seemed like the kind of assassin who liked to make his kills personally, but he wouldn't put it past the missing nin to use a deceptive trick. Meanwhile, Kaeru was apparently getting nervous at Kakashi's silence.

"Naruto's favorite jutsu is Oiroke no Jutsu," the young man blurted suddenly.

The idea that Kaeru was a disguised Mizu Bunshin quickly flitted out of Kakashi's mind.

"Showed you that one?" Kakashi considered himself lucky that he had never actually seen the devastating jutsu, but he had secondhand knowledge of it through the Hokage.

"I got some experience with it." Kaeru just shrugged, falling into a more relaxed posture than was probably wise in the middle of a battle.

Suddenly, Kaeru tensed again and snapped his head to his left. Kakashi wasn't exactly sure what Kaeru thought he could see through the mist, but it was clear that he had noticed something.

"Ah, he's gone again," noted Kaeru quietly. He turned to Kakashi intently. "My shadow clones can tell me where he is when they dispel, but I can't move that fast. He's gone by the time I know."

Kakashi shot Kaeru a glance from his regular eye before he went back to scanning the mist.

"The others?" Kakashi probed, hoping that leadership quality in Kaeru despite his title of genin wasn't a fluke.

"Sakura-chan's guarding Tazuna at the north side of the bridge," Kaeru quickly reported. "Sasuke and Naruto are trapped by the hunter nin about ten meters back."

Kaeru shot a glance over his shoulder, where he said the hunter nin would be. The mist was still pervasive around them, but Kakashi wondered if he had a Kage Bunshin looking out for the rest of his team.

"That kid has a kekkei genkai," Kaeru finally announced in a low tone. "Something with ice."

Kakashi nodded silently. He had heard of Mist's unusual interest in bloodlines. Or rather, their unusual fear of them. It wasn't surprising that the shinobi who carried such talents ended up becoming nuke-nin.

"You might be smarter than you appear after all." The familiarly eerie voice issued from the mist.

"Hey!" an indignant teen cried.

Apparently, Kaeru was enough of an Uzumaki to share the shouting-enemies-down-in-the-middle-of-a-fight trait. Kakashi wasn't sure if he was more exasperated or amused.

"Haku is the last of his line," continued Zabuza's disembodied voice. "A Hyouton user. His bloodline makes him the perfect tool, but he is still too soft."

"You act like that's a bad thing, bastard." Kaeru glared randomly at the mist.

"If he needs to, Haku will kill his heart to destroy his opponents." Zabuza's voice had taken on an extra chill, but Kakashi couldn't sense the man's chakra or presence. "Can your students accomplish that, Kakashi?"

Kakashi refused to give any outward sign that Zabuza's question had hit a mark. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were all fresh genin. They knew nothing about killing yet. They didn't know what it was like to take a life for no other reason than because the village ordered you to.

"Never underestimate Konoha's brats, Zabuza," Kaeru commanded the mist with his half-smile lingering on his face. "They got really good eyes."

"It's true," Kakashi joined in. If he couldn't bluff, telling the truth would work just as well in this situation. "Our Sakura was top of her class among kunoichi. Naruto is Konoha's most surprising, unpredictable ninja. And Sasuke has a power that could rival Haku's. You're not the only one with a special student, Zabuza."

"What about you, brat?" questioned the voice.

Surprisingly, Kaeru didn't answer immediately. He stared into the mist as if his blue eyes would suddenly erupt into Byakugan. Then, Kaeru whipped a kunai from his holster and shot it into the mist, about thirty degrees from the direction both he and Kakashi were facing. Kakashi could just catch a glimpse of a blue haze surrounding the kunai, lit by his Sharingan.

"You'd be surprised what I can see, Zabuza," Kaeru announced proudly.

Suddenly, the boy flinched and let his smile fall.

"Damn, that didn't do much damage," he muttered then turned to Kakashi. "I got him under his ribs."

So, Kaeru neglected going to find Zabuza himself with knowledge from his clones and had simply launched a chakra-laden kunai. A good plan, but they needed something better than blind target practice.

"How many clones do you have hunting him?" questioned Kakashi.

"Eight," Kaeru answered immediately. One blue eye suddenly closed in a brief flinch, and Kaeru met Kakashi's eyes again. "Make that seven."

"Can you hold him long enough to lead?"

The Sharingan was draining, but so was Kirigakure no Jutsu. Unless Kakashi could do some damage to Zabuza before getting injured himself, it would turn into a game of outlasting each other. And Zabuza would be far more familiar with a mist-filled environment than Kakashi.

Kaeru kept his eyes on Kakashi's while he processed the request. Finally, the genin nodded and brought his hands together in a simple cross.

"Yeah," Kaeru confirmed just before two more clones appeared on either side of the boy. "Go tell the others."

The two clones disappeared into the mist without a word. Kakashi kept his eyes open and waited.

* * *

Sakura was nervous. She could hear the sounds of battle, scuffling and grunts and an occasional cry of pain, from the circle of ice sheets that she had been told to watch, but she couldn't see within it. And she couldn't do anything to help.

She could still hear pieces of the conversation between Zabuza and the two fighting him, Kakashi-sensei and Kaeru-kun. Both Kaeru and Kakashi had such confidence in the three youngest ninja on the mission, even though Sakura and her teammates hadn't done anything but D-rank mission so far. Even though Sakura wasn't doing anything but staring worriedly into the mist.

Sakura knew all the rules written in Academy textbook. But knowing and doing were two separate things, and Sakura wasn't even sure how she could help. She stared at the icy reflections and poured through the tomes stored in her mind. None of them suggested a way to break a bloodline jutsu without contacting the instigator himself. Sakura dismissed her head knowledge and tried to recall everything that had happened in the previous fights during this mission. There had been the two brothers on the road, but even Naruto could handle those guys. Then the first time they had seen Zabuza, the boy with him hadn't done anything but hide Zabuza's cover. That fight belonged mostly to Kakashi and Kaeru—

A sudden recollection appeared like a light bulb in Sakura's mind. She wasn't entirely sure it would work, and if she did it wrong, she might be hurting her teammates' chances more than helping them. But she had to do something.

Carefully, hoping the boy encased in ice wouldn't notice her movements, Sakura withdrew two kunai from her holster and concentrated.

* * *

"You move well," the masked ninja noted.

Sasuke stared back at his opponent calmly. His plan hadn't been great, but it served to keep both him and Naruto alive. Sasuke was faster than Naruto, so he was designated to keep their enemy's attention while Naruto dodged most of the blows by creating Kage Bunshin and substituting with them so that his clones took the hits meant for him. Thus far, it was working well, but Sasuke knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up his current movements for any long duration of time.

Apparently, the boy in the ice knew it as well.

"But you will not escape from here," continued the boy. "If I must, I will kill my heart to become a true shinobi."

Sasuke practically heard the response straining at the back of Naruto's teeth, but the idiot had agreed to let Sasuke do the talking as long as Naruto looked for an opening. The one brilliant idea Naruto had had was to work together. To get stronger together.

Sasuke pushed Naruto's harsh words to the back of his mind. He had no time to think of what that could mean for him, for his ambition. Instead, Sasuke focused on the boy above him as he withdrew four senbon in each hand, held delicately between his fingers. Determined to track the path of the weapons, Sasuke blocked out all other distractions, including Naruto's grunts as he tried to remove the needles that he hadn't been able to dodge, and _looked._

The senbon flew in straight lines, all toward Sasuke. The would-be victim crouched into a low stance then pushed off the ground with one hand, balancing for a moment in a handstand before he vaulted into a flip and landed facing Naruto. His teammate seemed to be out of clones for the moment and took to staring at Sasuke with wide eyes.

"Sasuke," breathed Naruto, "your eyes . . ."

He never found the words to describe precisely what he was seeing, but Sasuke knew enough of what _he _was seeing to fill in the blanks. He could see each of the individual drops of water that littered the ground beneath their feet. He could see all the wounds Naruto was standing in spite of. And when he turned back to where his enemy stood, he could see that the boy wasn't surprised at all.

"So, you have also inherited a kekkei genkkai," remarked the boy.

"You're not the only one who's special," Sasuke scoffed.

"Teme," Naruto muttered, though Sasuke wasn't sure why, or even which of the two boys he was referring to.

"Stick to the plan, dobe," Sasuke ordered.

"Let you run around with your _special_ eyes while I sit around and wait?" hissed Naruto under his breath. "We need a better plan."

Sasuke ignored the hot demand as three senbon cut through the air between him and Naruto. The enemy was _trying _to keep them separated. That could work to their advantage. Sasuke just hoped that Naruto wouldn't jump in too early.

"Perhaps you can understand what your friend cannot," suggested the boy in the mask. "You know how people can fear those of us with power. And fear can lead to hate."

Sasuke paid only half an ear to the boy's regaling, but he did hear a strangled sort of gasp come from Naruto on the other side of their prison. Sasuke cursed silently and swore that if the idiot didn't know how to keep quiet, he was going to spend the rest of their missions with a gag in his mouth.

"My father discovered my bloodline after I was born." The boy was suddenly in a mirror over Sasuke's right shoulder, and Sasuke cursed again for letting Naruto distract him. "When he realized what we were, he killed my mother and tried to kill me."

A part of Sasuke's mind flashed with the memory of two pale figures lying on the wooden floor, never to rise, never to speak words of pride again, but he fiercely brushed it aside. Itachi would die for that, but Sasuke had to live through this first.

Sasuke's eyes caught sight of a brief movement outside the dome, a flash of pink and metal, and he knew what to do. He only hoped that Naruto would catch on.

* * *

Haku's fight was not going as well as he wanted it to. His goal had been to capture all three of the genin in his Makyou Hyoushou, maybe even the old bridge builder. That would leave Hatake Kakashi and the redheaded Kaeru to Zabuza as he wished. Zabuza-sama wouldn't mind Haku being greedy, and in Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors, he could control the outcome of his fight.

Such had been the plan. He hadn't anticipated either of his opponents improving to such a degree that the dark one could probably match Haku in speed outside of his bloodline jutsu. Even Naruto, who had been kind to Haku, was using ninjutsu where he couldn't use his speed. And now, the dark boy had a doujutsu that could track movement, the same as Hatake Kakashi, the Sharingan that should have been only found in members of the clan Uchiha. It wasn't nearly as developed yet, Haku was sure of that, but it was still a nuisance. He had to finish this quickly.

"My dream is to protect the one who is precious to me," he announced to the two boys below him.

Haku wondered if Naruto would recognize his words from the morning in the forest. The boy had been paying special attention when Haku started speaking of how he had ended up alone, and Haku hadn't missed his expression of shock. Perhaps for one with a family like Naruto, it was impossible to picture being alone.

"You cannot be allowed to interfere with Zabuza-sama."

Suddenly, the Uchiha boy charged forward. His eyes could follow Haku's movements, but his own had gained no speed. Haku only realized the reason behind the boy's timing when he saw the kunai sailing towards him from the outside of the dome out of the corner of his eye. But there was enough time to deal with all of this.

Haku eyed the boy charging for him and, with one hand, flipped five senbon toward very precise targets on the boy's neck. Then, without watching Uchiha's reaction, Haku leaned out from his mirror and caught the kunai sailing for him. Then he saw the second kunai. A shadow shiruken technique.

Haku's mask was hard enough to keep the kunai from piercing the ceramic, but the force of the blow was enough to snap his head backwards.

"Yatta!" he heard the young kunoichi cry triumphantly.

Haku ground his teeth behind his mask. He hardly thought a simple hit was enough for such celebration, but then the girl had no idea what was going on within the prison that the ice mirrors created. Haku straightened again with the intention of slipping back into his mirror.

He was met instead with a fist in the center of his mask.

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure what Sasuke was planning to accomplish with a straight on attack; hadn't that been what he chewed Naruto out for initially? But, Naruto wasn't about to miss out on a beat-down. So, when Sasuke charged, Naruto charged, too.

Then, Haku left the mirrors, and Sakura's yell accompanied a sudden hit. Naruto knew he didn't have much combat experience, but he knew his opportunity when he saw it. With Haku's head bent backward and his eyes on the sky instead of his opponent, Naruto gathered his chakra to his feet and gave an almighty push off the bridge. He cocked his fist back and put all of his momentum behind the punch he delivered right to the damn ninja's stupid mask.

The young nuke-nin fell back as Naruto's momentum kept pulling him forward, shattering right through the mirror the boy had been in. Naruto fell to the ground and rolled into a somersault to stay on his feet. The boy simply crashed to the bridge and only managed to get his hands underneath him in an attempt to push himself up.

"Ha!" Naruto let out a triumphant shout even louder than the sound of tinkling glass behind him.

Still grinning widely, Naruto glanced over his shoulder to congratulate his partner-in-crime. His grin froze when he saw what he had left behind.

Sasuke lay face down on the cold cement of the bridge with senbon struck through his neck like a sick necklace. He wasn't moving.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed into the silence, heavy in the mist, but she didn't move from her position in front of Tazuna.

Naruto's eyes stayed fixed on Sasuke. No, couldn't be. He was just faking. This was part of the plan, right?

"I see," the enemy's voice broke through the thickness of Naruto's mind. "He kept my eyes fixed on his attack so that I wouldn't see yours."

Naruto's throat was suddenly thick and tight, like it was swollen. It was getting hard to breathe. He turned to face his enemy again, but he had to keep his eyes on the ground just in front of his feet. His eyes were burning.

"He sacrificed himself so that you could break free of my jutsu."

"Shut up," Naruto growled.

He didn't want to hear about sacrifice. He never wanted anyone to die for him, especially Sasuke. They were teammates. They were supposed to work together. They were supposed to get stronger together. Sasuke wasn't supposed to be lying on the ground, unmoving, just because Naruto couldn't keep up with him.

"Is this the first time you've seen a comrade die?" inquired his opponent, on his feet now.

Naruto could almost hear the sympathy in the other's voice, and his face started to get hot. The thought that he was getting a fever crossed his mind, or maybe it was the needles still embedded in his skin that was making his muscles coil and tense like that.

"Shut up," he repeated, raising his head. "I won't forgive you."

Naruto saw the blank mask, cracked in the center of the forehead where he had struck it. He saw the calm façade of the enemy nin, showing no emotion at the death of one of Naruto's own precious people.

And then Naruto saw red.

* * *

A/N: I think this might just qualify me as evil. I went through three different possible endings for this chapter and still ended up going with the one that most resembled canon.

I gotta admit, writing fight scenes involving more than three people is hard if only because there's so many points of view to keep track of. If anyone thinks it got a little chaotic towards the end, feel free to tell me. On the plus side, all of your reviews encouraging me to update promptly really helped. Do it again, and I just might have the next chapter up in two weeks as well. Kishimoto wrote the battle of the bridge in three chapters; I'm hoping for two (and a half, maybe, just to wrap up the characters).

Briefly: Kirigakure no Jutsu you are already familiar with, makes a whole bunch of mist. Makyou Hyoushou is Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors and pretty much a must for any fight scene involving Haku. Naruto's Oiroke no Jutsu is, of course, Sexy Technique, and something very specific to Naruto (for now). I am unsure if the shadow shiruken trick involves chakra or just really good aim, but I figured that Sakura would be smart enough to figure it out if Naruto and Sasuke could do it. And, just in case anyone missed the Hiro Nakamura moment, "Yatta" is an exclamation that means something like "Hooray/I did it!"

I think that's it until next chapter!

Sincerely,

Fia

P.S. (which you probably shouldn't read unless you're caught up on recent manga chapters) Does anyone else wonder if Kishimoto reads fanfiction? First Naruto gets to make a cool entrance, then Yondaime appears inside the seal (which is actually one of the more popular ways to include him in fanfics), then Danzo becomes Hokage! Now I'm gonna have to research that guy more. Nuts.


	15. Chapter 15

Inari could still hear his mother's pained cries outside the door as his tears continued to spill down his cheeks. He was still sitting, frozen in the position his weak legs had deposited him into when he had fallen. He was an orphan now. He was going to be alone.

_"Go ahead and pout, then, you big crybaby!"_

Inari's eyes popped open at the memory that was so clear he thought for a moment that the blond idiot-hero had come back to life and was standing in Inari's kitchen. But the words were only in his head, and yet they rang so clearly. He was a crybaby, wasn't he? What would Kaiza think of him? That man had been as close to a father— no, that man _was_ his father, and he would've protected what he loved with his own two hands. He would've protected Inari's mother. Ignoring the way his hands shook, Inari pushed himself to his feet. He needed to help his mom. He probably wasn't going to get to be a hero who could save the day, but he had to try.

With his cheeks still sticky with the salt and dampness his tears had left behind, Inari clenched his fists and raced out the door toward the voices outside.

"Let go of my mom!" Inari shouted as his feet carried him to the wooden porch that framed his house.

The two samurai stopped in their tracks and looked back at the boy. Waraji still had one hand fisted in Tsunami's dark hair while she struggled to get her feet under her. Inari froze again, but he balled his fists by his sides and locked his knees so that his legs wouldn't give out from under him.

"This brat just won't shut up," sneered Zouri as he drew his blade.

"Oh, so _you're _allowed to kill him?" Waraji questioned in a petulant voice.

Inari knew he couldn't run, but what could he do against a full-grown samurai?

"It'll show the old man that we mean business." Zouri started back for Inari with a wide grin on his face. "And we can always gag the bitch."

Inari didn't even register the bad word that came out of the man's mouth as he saw the gleaming sword raised high in the sunlight. Ashamed, Inari bowed his head and said a last word to his father. _I'm sorry I couldn't protect anyone_.

"Kaeru-nii-san was right. You guys are just a bunch of bullies."

The voice was the same; too cocky for someone so young and too happy for someone who had gone through as much hard times as Kakashi-san had said. But it was still there. Inari opened his eyes and stared, along with Zouri and Waraji, at a short, blond, orange-clad ninja standing just behind Zouri.

"Urah!" came a loud shout as a flash of orange leaped from the roof above Inari's head and landed on Zouri's shoulders.

Inari barely had time to register the shinobi trick of splitting oneself before he gaped in absolute shock at what the _ninja_ did next. He stuck his finger in his mouth, wetting it quickly, then shoved the spit-slick digit into Zouri's ear.

"Aah!" Zouri apparently forgot his sword in favor of waving his arms around his head, as if he was trying to chase away a giant bug.

Inari's eyes shot to his mother, but Naruto had already taken care of her. One figure of Naruto held his mother with his back to Waraji, protecting her. Meanwhile, the Naruto who stood behind Zouri gave a running jump towards the samurai. The war cry that he let out caused Waraji to turn toward his new opponent. So Inari was the only one who saw another Naruto leap from behind Tsunami with his foot extended. A heel smashed into the back of Waraji's head just as a raised fist collided with his nose. Waraji slumped to the wooden planks, unconscious.

A sharp cry made Inari look back to the man in front of him. Naruto—one of him at least—was still riding his shoulders, but now the boy had his legs locked around the man's neck. Zouri was trying to raise his sword above his head to cut the figure trying to choke him, but he looked more like he was going to chop off one of his own ears.

Inari watched the man swing once more at Naruto, who dodged by grabbing onto the man's hair and swinging himself precariously downward. The boy gritted his teeth and did the first thing that came to mind now that Zouri's attention was no longer fixated on him.

A moment later, Zouri flinched and shook off the need to clutch at his injured instep while Inari stood amazed at the damage a bare heel could do with all of his weight behind it.

Naruto took the opportunity to plunge his fist into the crown of the man's head as his legs jerked up, cracking the man's neck so loudly that Inari wasn't surprised at all when Zouri fell to the ground, taking Naruto with him. Naruto waved his arms frantically and jumped from his perch on Zouri's shoulders. He landed in front of Inari easily.

"Hey, kid," Naruto greeted as if he hadn't just jumped off an unconscious samurai. "Sorry about leavin' you alone in there. We needed to lure them outside so we could ambush them."

Inari stared at the boy in front of him in wonder. It was part of the plan. Inari had helped after all. Swallowing quickly, Inari looked over to his mother. There was one Naruto on either side of her, helping her to her feet while another was messily dragging Waraji out from under the eaves of the house.

Mom!" Inari's knees were shaking, and his heart was pumping so loudly that he couldn't hear anything else. But his mom was safe, and that was his only thought as he threw himself into Tsunami's arms.

"Nii-san said that they'd attack here if they couldn't get to the old man," the Naruto on Inari's right side said.

Inari raised his eyes from Tsunami's apron, even though he was sure that Naruto was talking to all the other Narutos.

"Something must have happened at the bridge," answered an identical voice from behind Inari. "We need to get there."

"Right." All four figures nodded definitively.

"Wait!" Inari called as he launched away from Tsunami. "Let me help."

A couple of the Narutos looked back at him and frowned. But Inari stood his ground firmly. It was a lot easier standing up to this shinobi now that he had already stared down Zouri.

"I can help!" he insisted. He needed to protect what he loved, and his gramps was in trouble. "I'm not a crybaby."

"No, you're not," Naruto's voice had turned oddly serious.

Inari looked up at the closest figure, the one that was gazing at him with a sincere smile.

"I'm sorry I called you that, Inari," said Naruto. "You were really brave."

Inari tried to smile back, but he could already feel his eyes scrunching shut in an attempt to keep his tears in.

"We gotta go," urged another Naruto.

"I can help you get the villagers together," Inari tried again. He _needed _to help with this.

All four Narutos exchanged glances, and Inari wondered if they had some sort of mind connection or if they were just being shinobi-like and sneaky.

"Okay." The lead Naruto finally nodded at the boy. "We could use reinforcements if the old man's in trouble."

Inari beamed through his tears. _Watch me, dad, _he whispered in his mind. _I swear I'll make you proud. I'll protect what's precious to me with my own two hands._

* * *

Kakashi kept both eyes on the shinobi in front of him. It helped that Kaeru's red hair stood out in an environment shrouded in gray. Kaeru had explained that two of his clones were engaging Zabuza as soon as another clone had dispelled with the exact knowledge of a location. Kakashi had a kunai drawn and all his senses peeled open in an effort to know exactly what Kaeru did.

Kaeru suddenly changed direction, pushing off with his left foot so that he bounded to his right. Kakashi followed easily and opened his eyes wider when he saw three more figures through the haze of the mist. One had his back to the charging shinobi while the other two were crouched into defensive stances, their red hair bleeding through the fog. Zabuza already had his zanbato drawn as he faced two of Kaeru's clones.

Kaeru withdrew a kunai from his holster and launched it at his enemy. Kakashi frowned at the action; all the kunai did was alert Zabuza to his new position against four instead of two. Zabuza reacted quickly, bringing his sword down on one of the clones even as he turned around and craned his neck to dodge the kunai.

Well, now it was down to three-against-one.

Kakashi held his own kunai in one hand and came between Kaeru and the raised sword. Blade met blade with a metallic _tang_, and Kakashi held his ground. A firm hand grasped his left shoulder, using the older ninja as leverage. Kaeru vaulted himself around Kakashi and swung his leg in a wide roundhouse kick at the same time as his remaining clone crouched and swept his foot towards Zabuza's legs. Zabuza released the counterweight of his sword in order to leap over both Kaerus' legs. As the blade clattered to the cement, Kakashi charged again.

It was strange fighting alongside Kaeru. There was no calling of directions or encouragement to each other. It was like fighting beside someone who had known him long enough to know Kakashi's fighting style, like fighting beside a precious comrade. Kaeru flipped another kunai at Zabuza, but the nuke-nin caught the blade in his left hand, providing him with a weapon to replace his discarded blade. Kakashi stopped short in his charge as Zabuza raised his arm. Suddenly, another form of Kaeru appeared behind Zabuza, kunai in hand, and plunged his blade into the upraised arm, right through Zabuza's bicep muscle.

Zabuza let out a grunt of pain, high praise for anyone managing to fight a silent killer, and leapt away from his enemy into the mist.

"You're doing well, Kaeru-kun," commented Kakashi to his partner.

"You say that like you're surprised." Kaeru smirked back.

Kakashi wouldn't use _surprised_ to describe his reaction, but the mind that had labeled him a genius at age five did take note of certain things. Unlike during his brief spar against Kakashi some weeks ago, Kaeru was apparently having no residual pain from either his wounds or his seals. He even had enough foresight to know what Kakashi was planning. Either that, or he had been a _very _quick study in the single time that he had fought against the Copy-nin.

A scraping sound made Kakashi turn his head suddenly as his eyes scanned the otherwise silent mist. Kaeru stood a step behind the jounin and looked at Kakashi, like to a superior for direction. There was no breeze to distinguish direction, and the mist blocked Kakashi's sight.

"Do you see him?" Kakashi demanded.

"He trashed my last bunshin," Kaeru answered as he turned his own eyes to the mist. "We need a better way of tracking him. I wasn't trained as a silent killer."

Kakashi barely heard the breath of air over Kaeru's complaining, but it was enough to be almost too late. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Zabuza approaching, holding his giant sword with his uninjured right hand.

"Kaeru!"

Responding with an instinct all shinobi learned in batter, Kaeru crouched without even looking over his shoulder and tried to roll out of the way. Zabuza brought his blade down in one swooping arc and caught Kaeru's side instead of his stomach. Zabuza didn't stick around to survey his handiwork. Instead, he simply disappeared back into the mist, leaving Kakashi untouched while Kaeru struggled to rise from his hands and knees.

"Kaeru," Kakashi hissed in demand.

"Ow." The boy pushed the short expletive out through gritted teeth, but he stood up slowly.

Then, Kakashi felt a chill travel through the mist, and a shiver crawled down his spine despite his veteran years. This weight, this _chakra_, was evil.

"Zabuza?" breathed the jounin, doubtful already that the nuke-nin could produce a killing intent so blatent when he was a master of silent killing.

"No." Kaeru's response was quiet, and the boy wasn't even looking at Kakashi when he answered.

Kakashi glanced at the teenager before he followed his gaze through the mist back to where Kaeru had said that Zabuza's companion was engaging Sasuke and Naruto.

_Naruto._

That's why the chakra felt so evil. The Kyuubi no Kitsune was out. Kakashi sucked in the heavy air and tasted only the moist surroundings that he had been in all along. The _saki_ that accompanied the bijuu's chakra had dissipated into the mist, letting Kakashi think more clearly. This level of chakra was nowhere near what had paralyzed almost the entire village of Konoha that dark night more than twelve years ago. The seal had not been broken, only slipped slightly. But it was still a problem.

"Kaeru," Kakashi called intently. They had to take Zabuza down quickly so that Kakashi could tend to his student.

Kaeru, however, had not moved from his spot. His wounded side was dripping over the hand that he clutched to his right side, and the glove he wore in the same fashion as Kakashi was already damp with blood.

"We don't have time for this," declared the jounin. "Naruto—"

"I'll go to Naruto," Kaeru interrupted suddenly. "You'd be better to deal with Zabuza."

Kakashi frowned at the boy. Sandaime had informed him of Naruto's status as jinchuuriki, and Kaeru himself had proven that he knew something about seals. But how did that translate to Kaeru being the best to take care of the Kyuubi? If that was his intent at all?

"Kaeru," Kakashi began, fully prepared to pull rank and report the oldest genin on the mission for insubordination if he refused.

Suddenly, Zabuza emerged from the mist again, wielding his meat cleaver with one good arm and a bleeding side. Kaeru jumped backwards so that the large blade crashed into the cement between Kakashi and Kaeru. As the former Mist assassin jerked his sword out of its newly-created cradle, Kakashi saw Kaeru turn as if to flee the scene, dashing to the end of the bridge straight towards the source of the chakra.

"Guess the kid didn't have such good eyes after all," commented Zabuza as he heaved his sword up to rest on his shoulder.

Silently, Kakashi studied his opponent as long as the opportunity presented itself. One arm still hung limply by his side, and he was bleeding from the kunai that Kaeru had caught him with blindly. It would take just a bit more to bring him down, and now Kakashi had to worry about two Uzumakis somewhere beyond his sight in the mist.

"Well," Kakashi sighed, reverting to his laid-back, "hip" attitude easily. "Let's get this over with." It annoyed the hell out of enemies when they thought their opponents weren't taking them seriously. "I've got better things to do."

The seal had only slipped, Kakashi reminded himself as Zabuza faded back into the mist. If nothing else, he could hope that Naruto remained Konoha's number one knuckle-headed, hyperactive, surprising ninja.

* * *

Naruto felt his knuckles crack as he flexed his hands and curled them slowly into fists. Before him stood a figure in a mask, the one who had killed Sasuke. Naruto bared his teeth and charged.

He could see the boy twist his hands into symbols as he dodged to one side and knew that he couldn't be allowed to finish. Naruto changed directions even before Haku stopped moving and seized the older boy's right wrist. Haku made some kind of soft exclamation. Naruto only heard the pain conveyed in it and turned his eyes on Haku's mask. That stupid, fake face always staring down at them while attacking, being better than Naruto. He hated it. He clenched his right hand into a fist, dimly aware that his nails were digging into his palm. Then, with Haku still trapped in his grip, Naruto thrust his fist into Haku's face.

His enemy flew backwards, but Naruto didn't even give him a chance to recover. He leaped forward; his legs felt even stronger than when he first discovered he could make it to the top of the tallest tree in the forest. Haku's head was bent unnaturally backwards, but Naruto wanted more than that. His fist uncurled into a more base attack, his fingers still curled like he was going to rip off Haku's mask with his bare hands. Naruto caught up to Haku's form and dragged his curled fingers across the boy's chest. He could feel fabric tear and flesh part easily beneath his hand. A cry pierced the air, but Naruto paid no attention.

Haku's body hit the stone and skidded to a stop while Naruto stood a meter in front of him, surveying his fallen prey. Someone was calling, someone familiar. But the boy was now getting up, pushing himself off the ground unsteadily. A fierce sound escaped Naruto's throat as he started forward. He shouldn't be moving. He should stay down. Stay dead!

"Naruto, snap out of it!"

A strong arm wrapped around his stomach and held him in place. Naruto struggled against it. He needed to get to his enemy and _kill _him. He clawed at the arm that held him without looking at the body that accompanied it.

"Naruto, stop!" shouted that familiar voice again.

A pair of hands clamped down on his shoulders and jerked him backwards. A face suddenly appeared in his scope of vision. A round face, topped with blood-red hair.

"You think you're gonna save anyone like this?" demanded the face. "With those eyes!"

Eyes. The stranger's eyes were blue and snapped with the force of fire. Kaeru. Naruto lowered the hand he had drawn back and stared at his cousin. Kaeru stared back, and now that his eyes weren't burning, Naruto could see the concern shining through.

"Nii-san?"

All the strength Naruto had felt coursing through his veins suddenly left him. His skin felt clammy. He could smell blood in the air, like wet metal. A glance over Kaeru's figure proved that he was steadily dripping crimson onto the bridge from a gash in his right side.

Naruto's eyes caught a lethargic movement behind Kaeru, and he gaped. The figure standing up slowly raised one hand to push aside the remnants of a broken mask. As the ceramic pieces clattered onto the concrete beneath them, Naruto recognized the feminine face that was revealed.

"You're that kid . . ." It was the same kid that Naruto had mistaken for a girl. The one who had declared that Naruto would become strong.

"Why did you stop him?" the kid asked in a quiet voice. His dark eyes were fixed on Kaeru.

Naruto dared to let his eyes flicker to his cousin's visage. Kaeru lifted one hand off Naruto's shoulder and turned so that he faced Haku more directly. But he kept his other hand on Naruto's shoulder; Naruto liked the feeling of the weight of that hand.

"I don't want him to lose his heart," answered Kaeru finally.

Naruto swallowed hard. Haku had four wounds across his chest, seeping blood slowly and staining his already-dark clothes. _He _had done that. Naruto felt sick.

"You protect him," Haku noted. The only sign that the wounds affected him at all was the quietness of his voice.

"As long as I live." Kaeru's response was almost as quiet, but it was as firm as Iruka had declared that Uzumaki Naruto was a shinobi of the Leaf and not a demon fox.

Naruto saw Kaeru's face shift slightly so that he could look down at his little cousin.

"Sasuke?" Kaeru whispered in a voice only for Naruto.

Naruto flinched but didn't dare look back to where he knew Sasuke's unmoving body still lay. His throat grew tight, and his eyes dropped.

"He's—"

Naruto's throat constricted, and he couldn't continue. He felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze gently in some form of comfort. Kaeru dropped his hand then; Naruto immediately missed it, but he raised his head to see what was happening. Kaeru was facing Haku with his back to Naruto, like he was shielding him.

"I saw you in the forest," Kaeru announced. "You didn't want to kill any of us. Not even Naruto."

Naruto stared at Haku. He hadn't thought of that. If Haku had been working with Zabuza from the beginning, why didn't he kill Naruto when he had the chance?

"Tell me why," demanded Kaeru calmly, "you're with someone like Zabuza."

* * *

The question had a purpose, as had Kaeru's intervention. He didn't want Naruto to carry the guilt of someone's blood on his hands when the boy wouldn't even remember the reason he was killing. Naruto's ability to _understand_ his enemy was too precious to lose so soon. Kaeru only knew now that it was what had inspired those who had been his enemies, like Gaara, and even those who would rather have doubted him, like the shinobi of Konoha, to believe in Uzumaki Naruto because he demanded it – _dattebayo_.

"Do you know what it is to be hated for something you cannot control?" asked Haku calmly. "To be feared because of a power you never asked for?"

Kaeru's stomach twisted with the affirmation that wanted out, but he remained silent. This was Haku's story, not his, and he doubted Haku was even looking for an answer.

"I was born in a snowy village in Mizu no Kuni," explained Haku. "My parents were kind people. We were happy."

His right hand slowly rose to cradle his chest, cupping for a moment to catch the blood as if he was going to press it back into his body.

"But, those with kakkai genkai are feared, especially in Mist Country. When he discovered my mother's bloodline and that it had been passed to me, my father tried to kill us. My blood protected me, but I was left with nothing. The villagers drove me out. I realized then, that I was an unwanted person. No one would care if I died in the snow."

Naruto had relaxed enough to come stand beside Kaeru, his ears and eyes intent on Haku's story. Kaeru wondered how much Naruto realized that Haku's story paralleled his own.

"Zabuza discovered me and took me in. My bloodline could be useful to him. That which everyone else feared and hated, he desired. I was to become his tool."

Haku paused long enough in his story to smile fondly.

"I was happy," Haku declared. "It was my dream to protect Zabuza, to help him in everything. But now . . ."

Haku raised his head and stared at Kaeru. Kaeru tensed, not entirely sure of what would happen next. Then again, he had a pretty good idea.

"Please, kill me."

"What!" Naruto shouted. "What the hell?"

Kaeru knew why Naruto was protesting, but he didn't stop it. He knew this part; he had _lived _this part. Now it was time for Naruto to do so.

"Why would you die for a bastard like him?" One of Naruto's arms flew up to indicate the mist beyond the tattered fighters. "He's a bad guy who takes money from criminals! Why—"

"You said that it was your dream to become the strongest ninja in your village," Haku answered as his eyes flickered from the shorter Uzumaki to the calmer one.

Naruto suddenly swallowed what his question had been and shifted in his stance. His left foot came up against Kaeru's right leg, as if he was reassuring himself that Kaeru was still there.

"What would you do if that dream was no longer yours to pursue?"

Kaeru twisted his fingers inside his fists and wondered how to answer that question. He had lived in a world where Hokage was a joke; where the position was filled by a half-blind, decrepid, old man who made deals with the devil. Literally. But that wasn't Naruto's dream. Not really. Naruto wanted the same thing as Kaeru had once: acknowledgement. Haku's dream was merely to be useful to the one who had saved him from the darkness.

"Kill me," Haku demanded again.

Kaeru did not move.

"Naruto, go to Sasuke," he ordered.

He felt the boy beside him look up at him; confusion was the predominant feature seeping from Naruto's skin. But Kaeru still didn't take his eyes off Haku.

"Now," commanded the teenager. There was still a chance—Kaeru prayed it was a good one, though he don't know what kind of god had ever listened to _him_—that Sasuke was alive, like last time. Even if he wasn't, Kaeru doubted that he could bring himself to kill Haku. He just didn't want Naruto deciding to take up the boy's offer instead.

Naruto obediently, albeit reluctantly, backed away from the confrontation toward his fallen comrade. Kaeru waited until he was sure that Naruto was concentrated on Sasuke. It might not have been the best place to send Naruto just after recovering from a bout of Kyuubi's chakra, but Kaeru just needed him away. He wasn't sure what he was going to do if he was forced to kill Haku, this time in a way so he would succeed. Why did everyone he felt for have to die before his eyes?

Kaeru shook his head firmly, chasing away thoughts of empty roads and lost friends. He knew how important Zabuza was to Haku; knew it better than Haku _or_ Zabuza suspected. But Haku didn't have to die. He didn't have to pin all his hopes and dreams on one person. If it came down to it, he'd offer the boy a place in Konoha.

Never mind that he had no idea how he'd manage to convince Kakashi, much less Sandaime of it. Sometimes he really wished that even a bit of Shikamaru could have rubbed off on him. He could really use a plan about now.

* * *

Sakura held another kunai in front of her, but her body refused to move. She had gone from absolute elation when her technique worked, catching the masked nin in the forehead, to horror when the mirrors had come crashing down to reveal Sasuke's unmoving body.

Then, Naruto had _changed_. His movements were fierce and feral, and the feeling that had come with them—like the mist around her was actually heavy, pressing in on her and making it hard to breathe. Using nothing but his hands, Naruto had slashed through Haku's chest and left him bleeding. She was aware that she screamed, but it had sounded so far away. She knew that she had almost cried when Kaeru had suddenly appeared and started yelling at Naruto.

Now, Kaeru was staring at the boy in the broken mask—Haku, Zabuza had called him. Sakura could hear their voices, but not the words being said; it seemed like neither side was in a hurry to attack. Naruto slowly backed away from Kaeru and trudged his way to the middle of the bridge, where a dark boy lay. Sakura followed his movements to Sasuke's form as if she couldn't help it. Suddenly, she felt a larger, steadier hand slip into her own free one.

"I'll stay with you," Tazuna whispered. His voice was far from the usual boasting cry that he spoke with. "That way you can keep protecting me."

"Yeah," Sakura murmured.

Her fingers closed over the wrinkled hand, and she led the way to the center of the bridge. With Naruto providing backup, Sakura felt confident enough to pocket her kunai and kneel beside her longtime crush. Naruto immediately crouched on one knee and braced both hands against Sasuke's side.

"Don't move him!" Sakura snapped in desperation. Whatever knowledge stored in her mind had to be put to use, and she knew that if Sasuke was injured anywhere near his spine then moving him could do more harm than good.

Naruto just stared at Sakura with wide eyes, pleading for _something_.

"We can't leave him like this, Sakura-chan," he demanded quietly.

Sakura bit her bottom lip silently. It was true, she hated seeing Sasuke—always so proud and cool—lying face down on the cool stone of the bridge with senbon decorating his neck like a painful collar. Other than the needles in his neck, there were several embedded in his arms and legs, but his back was unmarred. Carefully, Sakura nodded her permission to Naruto. Her teammate heaved without so much as a grunt and flipped Sasuke to his back while Sakura cradled the still head, careful not to let any of the needles sink deeper into his skin.

Sasuke's eyes were closed, and a trickle of blood was smeared across the corner of his mouth. A large bruise colored his forehead blue and purple, probably from where he had fallen. But his expression was quiet, peaceful almost, as if he were just sleeping. Sakura almost brushed his hair back from his face gently, like a mother would, but the words that seemed so far away stopped her.

_"You're annoying."_

Shaking her head to rid herself of memories, Sakura pressed her first two fingers to the inside of Sasuke's wrist, like she had learned in class. She held her breath and prayed that it was only the blood pulsing in her ears that made it impossible to find his pulse. But even pressing her fingers against his skin so hard that they turned white, Sakura met only a silence that filled her stomach with rocks.

"He's . . ." Sakura swallowed hard against her dry throat and still her words were only a whisper. "He's so cold."

She couldn't even say the words. She didn't want to. She could feel Naruto's sharp eyes on her with an intensity she had never seen from him. Oh, he could be eager, begging for a new mission or a more challenging jutsu. But this was different. His eyes were practically burning. Sakura couldn't meet his gaze and focused on Sasuke's calm face instead.

"Sasuke-kun," she called, even though she knew that he couldn't answer her.

Naruto stood up abruptly and turned away. He stood stock still in front of Sasuke's body, facing Haku and Kaeru, who were still standing in their face-off. Sakura's fingers stretched further, abandoning their task of finding a pulse in favor of wrapping around Sasuke's wrist.

Sakura knew all the rules the Shinobi Academy had ever made its students memorize. She had all the highest marks on all the tests the Academy had ever given to her class. Even so, there was nothing she could do. Sakura suddenly followed Naruto's gaze, just to make sure they still weren't in any danger. Kaeru's left arm was wrapped around his stomach and clamped over a slash just below his rib cage. Sakura could see the dark stain that seeped through his already-dark shirt and wondered how much blood a person could stand to lose. She was probably the only one on the team that had paid attention during the class on first aid and medical jutsu, and she still couldn't do _anything._

It wasn't until a sob choked its way out of her throat that Sakura realized she was crying.

* * *

Haku had failed. He knew he had, and yet he wasn't as ashamed of it as he thought he would be. In failing, he had failed Zabuza-sama and that should have been unforgiveable. But Haku didn't think he minding losing to a young, bright, smiling ninja who only wanted the strength to make other people see him. He had seen the desperation and loneliness in the boy's eyes when he spoke of his dream, and Haku, having lived it once, had recognized it for what it was. The boy was alone.

But then the other Konoha shinobi had appeared, and all traces of sadness had left Naruto's face when confronted with one he called brother and the dark one he fought with. Naruto had them like Haku had Zabuza. Which also explained why the redhead, Kaeru, had been so fiercely protective. The only thing that Haku was still puzzling over was why the teenager seemed so reluctant to dispatch an enemy.

"I don't believe you," Kaeru announced suddenly.

The sluggish beat of Haku's heart suggested that it would be a long time before Haku died from this battle. Haku stared at the boy staring back and pressed his hand harder against his bleeding chest, confused both at the boy's abrupt manner and his obvious sureity that something was wrong.

"Not about your dream." Kaeru shook his head suddenly as he clarified. "You were—I know what it's like, being alone. I know—"

Haku looked, then, _really _looked, at his opponent. His eyes were almost the same as his younger brother's, but these older ones were laced with something else. This boy had lost. Perhaps that was why he had sent Naruto away; he didn't want to lose anyone. Then, Kaeru's eyes fixed themselves onto Haku.

"But you don't have to give up your life." He was silently pleading with Haku to understand. And Haku thought he did. It was Kaeru who didn't seem to.

"Zabuza-sama has no use for a broken tool," Haku explained. Zabuza-sama was all that Haku had, and all that he wanted, as well. "Do you have many precious people?"

Haku guessed that was the barrier that separated him from Kaeru's understanding. Anyone who had so many people to live for couldn't understand the hopelessness of losing the one person in the world who gave you life. As predicted, Kaeru hung his head and stared at the bridge between them.

"Yeah," he answered. Then, he raised his eyes again, and all pleading, all desperation, had been replaced with quiet belief. "You're one, Haku."

Haku was sure his surprise showed on his face. The boy didn't even _know _him. How could he—

A sudden sound grew in Haku's ear, like a flock of birds were suddenly fighting over scraps of food. An image of his master's body picked clean by scavengers made Haku's heart stop only momentarily. Then he felt the controlled, focused _saki_, and he knew exactly what was happening. The mist was dissipating slowly but surely.

Haku brought one hand in front of his face and started the seals he knew he would need. Kaeru's eyes widened, but Haku didn't pause to consider the redhead anymore even when he lunged in the direction Haku knew he had to go. There was still a way that he could be useful to Zabuza-sama.

* * *

Kakashi held his right wrist firmly with his left hand, bracing himself against the thin strands of blue light that danced over his skin.

"Zabuza, your ambition is too great," he announced as the lightning of Chidori crackled and swallowed up his hand.

Zabuza was currently immobile, held in place in the clearing mist by half a dozen of Kakashi's ninken he had summoned with the scent of Zabuza's blood already in their noses, courtesy of the kunai Kaeru had planted in the man's arm.

"You're trying to destroy this country's courage," explained Kakashi. "By destroying this bridge, you destroy their hope."

Zabuza just glared, unforgivingly, at his enemy.

"Your ambition sacrifices too many people." Kakashi held his hand up and looked at the nuke-nin through the blue light of his jutsu. "That's not what a shinobi should do."

Kirigakure or Konohagakure, shinobi were taught the same in both: power and skills were meant to protect the people of the village, the country even. Not for personal gain.

"I don't give a damn," growled Zabuza. "I fight for my own ideals, and that shall continue."

Not if Kakashi rammed him through the heart, it wouldn't. Kakashi lowered his hand to his side and slid his left foot in front of him in preparation for a charge.

"I'll say it once more," declared the Konoha ninja. "Surrender."

Most of the other countries said that Konoha had gone soft after the Third Great Shinobi War. For himself, Kakashi liked the ideals better as they were now. Saving teammates and sparing enemies was much more in line with what Obito probably would've done.

From the glare that Kakashi received in return, however, he was sure that Zabuza would have spit in his face were his mouth not covered. That was answer enough. Kakashi pushed off the ground with his left foot and charged. Zabuza couldn't move; he was going to die.

By the time Kakashi saw the thin, sheer wall of ice rise from the water gathered on the ground, he was moving too fast to stop. His arm swung around at the same time as he saw a dark form fly from the ice.

"Kakashi!"

The voice that called to him was angry, desperate, commanding, all of the above. And then, suddenly, Kakashi found himself frozen in a very strange situation.

The opponent facing him was not Zabuza but the boy, bleeding from a chest wound and wearing an expression that was quickly fading from grim determination to wonder. It was the boy who had stepped from the ice in front of his master to protect him from a killing blow. A blow that never reached him.

Kakashi's hand still crackled with living energy, but his wrist was encased in a firm grip that refused to let go despite the burning electricity that encompassed it. Kakashi grit his teeth and tried to glare at the interference. But as soon as he met blue eyes framed by choppy red hair, he faltered. Even with the wrong hair color, the wrong facial features, the wrong height, the _eyes _were something completely familiar. For a moment, Kakashi was a newly-made jounin, being held back by a blond man with blue eyes that turned from water to lightning in a matter of seconds.

_"I'll say it again. The most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork."_

"Stop," ordered Kaeru in a low voice, completely unlike his suggestions of what to do or even Naruto's demands of the best ass-kicking way to complete a mission. Kaeru just said it as if he expected to be obeyed.

His face was eerily lit by the Chidori in Kakashi's hand. Kaeru's other hand was clamped firmly onto Haku's shoulder, preventing both his victims from moving while the dogs still held Zabuza. All figures remained frozen. Silently, without really knowing why, Kakashi let his jutsu go and let the world return to its normal sunlit state, free of mist and dry lightning.

* * *

Damn, he didn't know what he was doing. Well, currently he was standing between Haku and Kakashi, doing his best you-will-listen-because-I-have-enough-power-to-kick-your-ass-from-here-to-Kumogakure impression. It always worked with Kiba.

Although, Kaeru had to admit, it was a lot different facing down Hatake Kakashi than a hotheaded Inuzuka one had wrestled with as kids. Still, Kaeru resisted the need to heave a giant sigh of relief as Kakashi's Chidori faded from view. Lightning chakra was weak against Wind, and Kaeru's hand was encased in his own, natural chakra. He could barely feel the strain on himself, so focused he had been in staring down his former sensei. With the Chidori gone, Kaeru let the wind chakra around his hand dissipate. Now, he just had to find a reason for jumping in like that.

Kaeru opened his mouth to spit out an excuse—right now, he was probably going with claiming that Haku wasn't an enemy, and Kakashi could always kill Zabuza at a later date—but then he heard the shift in the air. Tensing in a way that immediately let Kakashi know something was wrong, Kaeru tightened his grip on Haku and jerked the boy away from Zabuza as he simultaneously dropped Kakashi's wrist. Without any hand signals, Kakashi dismissed his ninken, allowing Zabuza an attempt to turn.

Then, Kaeru heard the sick _shlick_ of metal sinking into flesh. Zabuza's eyes widened and looked down to take in his own body. It wasn't until he turned completely to the west end of the bridge that Kaeru saw the spear clearly. It had embedded itself into Zabuza's back, just off center of his spine. His right lung was most likely punctured, but still he remained standing. Kaeru craned his head without moving to glimpse his newest complication and cursed through gritted teeth.

"So, you're getting your ass kicked," Gatou sneered through thin lips and white teeth. He tapped his cane on the cement and grinned with all the confidence of a man who had perhaps thirty men at his back to do his fighting for him. "How disappointing."

* * *

A/N: I am, apparently, late again, but I did stay up late to get this out on Friday night instead of Sunday afternoon. I do have excuses, too (a family trip to New York to see my grandparents and the fact that my USB key broke—yes, _broke_), but they're not all that interesting.

Nothing really to explain in this chapter, either. No new justu, just a bunch of slashes and people bleeding all over Tazuna's bridge. Poor guy.

And before anyone says that Zabuza would not be so easily taken down (or that Gatou isn't supposed to show up yet), please remember that Kaeru's presence changes things. And also that you are supposed to be reading a fanfiction, and doesn't all fiction require some suspension of disbelief?

(that sounded a bit cynical, forgive me, it's late where I live)

Anyway, enjoy the chapter. I hope to have the next one out soon.

Sincerely,

Fia


	16. Chapter 16

Tasaka Gatou knew the power he wielded. He had known from the time he took control of the shipping company from the Wave Country native: an old man who was perfectly contented to let things continue as they had for the past forty years. Gatou had seen the potential for power in the enterprise, buying or forcing out his competition through a variety of unsavory means. By the time he was the only means available for transportation on or off the slew of islands that made up Nami no Kuni, he practically owned all forms of muscle used for illegal operations or even by the ones foolish enough to try to undermine his own operation.

Gatou knew: Power was control. And for some reason, he had been slipping lately. He thought that little demonstration a year ago would have been sufficient. Publicly executing a man just for displaying a strength independent of Tasaka Shipping Corporation was on the extreme side, after all. But then that old man had started this idea of a bridge. The large edifice threatened Gatou's control on the country, and he had advertised, subtly, for a large sum to anyone skilled enough to kill him. Enter the nuke-nin from Kiri, Momochi Zabuza, along with a little tagalong that had absolutely no respect for power. But they were willing enough to do the job, so Gatou had hired them.

Not that he was actually willing to shell out his precious funds.

Gatou greeted the scene before him with only slight disappointment. He had actually been hoping that the shinobi would do him the favor of killing each other while he waited. No matter. He had thirty-two men with him, loyal to his funds if not his power.

The dark boy that came with Momochi was at his side in an instant, removing the weapon and laying the wounded demon down on the bridge. Gatou noticed—and sneered at—the tender look on the boy's face as he supported his master.

"So, that didn't kill you, Zabuza?" Gatou questioned. "Pity. I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with you after this."

There were still the Konoha shinobi to deal with as well. The masked one at the forefront likely would take more than one man to bring down, and there was a redheaded teenager beside him who was glaring at Gatou with a passion usually reserved for insects. He was probably a naïve young brat who didn't know what happened when people came up against those in power. Momochi was horizontal, now, with the boy holding his head up like a dying man. Pathetic. Gatou was glad they were out of commission.

Although he still owed that brat for spraining his wrist.

Beyond the front lines, there were two—no, three kids in the middle of the bride. No problem, especially considering that two of them were hovering around the third's prone body. The problematic architect was furthest from the fray, but at least they had him. Waraji and Zouri should have been coming from the village with their hostage momentarily. So by the time all the shinobi were dispatched of, the man who dared to defy Tasaka Gatou would have no choice but to yield. Maybe Gatou would kill him, anyway, because the people obviously needed another demonstration of the consequences of trying to make their own way without the shipping corporation.

Gatou knew his own power. As long as he controlled the populace, as long as he kept people so afraid that they didn't dare act out, he had power. Momochi, for all his fearsome reputation, had failed to calculate for Gatou's power.

* * *

Despite the many deaths he had seen, horrors he had witnessed, even the lives he himself had taken, Kaeru hated very few people in the world. Select members of Akatsuki were among the top of the list, not because they had been after him but because of who they had killed in their effort to get to him. Danzo was up there as well; the man had to die for what he had done to Konoha, turned it into a place ruled by fear instead of love for the village.

Kaeru might have hated Gatou as well. The man reminded him of an overgrown bully, like the kind of kids that used to kick up the sand in the box where he played as a kid just because they knew that the boy with lines across his cheeks had no one to defend him. But Gatou was a wimp. He couldn't even face down his allies without thirty guys to do his dirty work. Kaeru might have hated Gatou. If he wasn't already convinced that the man wouldn't live out the day.

"Demon Momochi Zabuza, down by a simple spear," sneered Gatou. "It seems you're just a baby demon, after all."

The absolute arrogance that Gatou was radiating was starting to get annoying. Kaeru briefly wondered if that could be considered irony, since he had hardly been the picture of discretion back when he was still blond. The thought made him chuckle. The sudden huff of air out of his lungs aggravated his wound, and Kaeru wrapped his left arm around his stomach again. He was sure that Zabuza's attack had slashed through the seals that covered his torso from waist to rib cage, but he wasn't sure what kind of damage he was dealing with yet. The marks on his arms were holding like they had been, and the Shiki Fuuin around his navel hadn't been disrupted.

"So, Tazuna went to Konoha for help." Gatou's eyes traveled from Zabuza and Haku, straight over Kaeru, and onto the Copy-nin. "You won't leave this bridge."

That was a threat, clear and clean, and the only taunt that Kaeru needed. His free hand dove into his holster for a kunai. Reliant on a wispy, blue energy, Kaeru let his wind-natured chakra envelop the kunai and flipped it at his enemy.

Suddenly, a spasm, like a pinched nerve, rippled down his right arm and made his fingers go numb so that he couldn't even feel to guide the kunai as it left his fingers. Kaeru trapped a pained grunt behind gritted teeth and balled his right hand so tightly that he could feel his nails digging through the glove he wore. The glowing blade ripped through the man to Gatou's left and continued, nicking another man's arm and sending two of Gatou's cronies down. Kaeru felt Kakashi tense and turn his eyes to his temporary genin teammate.

"Damn," muttered Kaeru. "I was aiming for the old bastard."

"You might want to work on that," Kakashi replied dryly.

Kaeru was too busy trying to determine if the burning he felt all along his arm was his nerves giving out or something worse to bother responding. Meanwhile, Gatou's calm seemed to give out in the face of the precision assassination of one of his men.

"It doesn't matter!" he called as he _bravely_ hurried back into the safety of his crew. "You're outnumbered, and you're already injured from your own battle. You'll be easy to kill."

"Half right." Kaeru brought his hands up, one already coated in blood, into a familiar cross. Injured they might have been, but he had a surefire way of evening the odds. With a murmur, twenty separate Kaerus lined up across the bridge, facing down Gatou and his hired muscle.

Suddenly, Kaeru's stomach turned in on itself in a way that he _knew_ wasn't because of the cut or the blood. His throat convulsed, and he swallowed, tasted bile burning at the back of his throat. He bent in half at the same time as he felt all the clones he had just produced go up in smoke, and he couldn't stop the cry that tore itself from his throat.

This was going to be a problem.

* * *

Naruto couldn't look at his teammates. Sakura was still sobbing over Sasuke's body. He could hear her sniffles and loud, wet gasps for breath behind his back. She hadn't asked what had happened in the trap that he and Sasuke had fallen into. Naruto didn't want to tell her. He didn't want her to know that he was responsible. It was his fault; his fault that Sasuke wasn't moving.

The mist was clearing well; Naruto could see both sides of the bridge now. Simply because he didn't want to have to turn back to Sakura's tears or Sasuke's cold body, Naruto looked up to where the others had disappeared to. No one was fighting anymore. In fact, Zabuza was just lying on the bridge next to Haku while Kaeru and Kakashi stood next to them both and stared down a large group of obnoxious-looking punks at the end of the bridge. In the lead was a fat old man with a walking cane that looked more for show than any practical use.

Naruto saw Kaeru-nii fling a kunai towards the asshole that was talking at the unmoving, bedraggled line of shinobi, and Naruto started forward intently. He saw the sheer damage that the kunai did and stopped, suspecting that his older cousin didn't need his help. It only seemed confirmed when the twenty copies of Kaeru popped up. Then, suddenly, they all disappeared just as quickly. Naruto's eyes widened as Kaeru bent over and cried out.

Naruto tried to look over his shoulder to check on his teammates, but his head refused to turn. He blinked away the burning at the back of his eyes and ran forward.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted from behind him, but he didn't turn around.

Naruto hurtled toward his cousin and skidded to a stop between Kaeru and Kakashi.

"Kaeru-nii-san!" he called desperately.

Kaeru's right knee hit the damp concrete hard. Naruto's arm came around his cousin's shoulders, but Kaeru remained upright—at least halfway. His breath came out heavy through gritted teeth, and Naruto worried that he was going to see two of his precious people fall to the bridge.

* * *

Haku hovered over his master even as he took stock of the strange situation he found himself in. He wasn't dead, which was a bit surprising after he was sure he was going to give his life for the one who had saved him. But Zabuza's wound was far too serious for Haku to do anything about. Besides the fact that his left arm had been stabbed through and his side had been slashed, his breath sounded wet, and the gaping hole in his back was still bleeding heavily. Haku's first aid usually consisted of patching Zabuza's wounds _away _from the battle site, packing them with the proper herbs to make sure there would be no infection or fever. Zabuza was already bleeding out, and nothing short of a fully trained iryo-nin would be able to save his life.

The boy's head turned slightly to study his sudden comrades. The boy who was a few years older than him, if that, knelt on the bridge and held the wound on his side tightly. He was obviously in pain and obviously trying to hide it. The way Uzumaki Kaeru clenched his teeth made Haku suspect that his stomach wound wasn't the only thing he was struggling against. But Uzumaki Naruto supported his older relative—Haku still thought the boys were brothers; there were enough similarities between them—with a fierce determination that looked almost out of place on his young face.

"Kakashi-sensei," coughed Kaeru roughly.

"I know," murmured the silver-haired man. "I used up too much chakra with Chidori and Kuchiyose. This won't be easy."

"Easy?" Kaeru gaped. "I can't even make shadow clones, and you're—"

Kaeru burst into a fit of coughing before his rant could form properly. His free hand rose to his mouth and caught the blood that sprayed from his parted lips. Haku's calm, dark eyes flickered to the man that his master had thought the greatest threat. It was subtle, but Hatake's breath was shallow, not like it should have been. The wound that Zabuza had initially given him had apparently not healed fully.

"What about Sakura and Sasuke?" Hatake demanded.

Haku saw Naruto's throat convulse in a dry swallow and remembered the hot, evil chakra that issued from the boy when he had seen his teammate laying on the cold bridge.

"Back with Tazuna," Kaeru interjected quickly. "They can't help us."

He said nothing of Sasuke's condition or Haku's part in it. Naruto set his jaw and stood up straighter.

"Then I'll just have to kick all their asses!" the boy shouted. He raised one fist in the air while the other remained wrapped around Kaeru's shoulders.

Haku stared at the boy. That face . . . he knew it. It was almost like the face he knew he himself wore when he knew he would die for Zabuza-sama.

Except he hadn't died. Kaeru hadn't wanted him to die, and Haku suspected that Naruto didn't, either. The protests that the boy had raised when Haku demanded to be killed were those of an innocent. Naruto had never spilled blood before. And yet, Haku knew that the younger boy was willing to do so in defense of his comrades, of his brother. Haku glanced back down at Zabuza's form. The man's eyes were closed, but Haku could still hear his heart beating sluggishly.

"Naruto-kun," Haku called quietly.

He laid Zabuza's body flat on the concrete beneath him and slid his arm free from behind his charge's back. Haku looked up to meet the eyes on him; Kaeru and Naruto stared at him while Hatake kept a firm gaze on the crowd at the end of the bridge.

"Please, don't fight."

He stood carefully, feeling the damp front of his _gi _heavy with blood. Kaeru watched his movements intently while Naruto just looked befuddled.

"Zabuza—" began Kaeru.

"We are no longer your enemies," Haku announced. There was no reason to fight these shinobi. Gatou had betrayed them, and Zabuza was dying on the stone.

"You never were, Haku." Kaeru's face was turned away now, staring at the bridge with unfocused eyes. Then, he looked up again with a crooked smile that spoke of loss and gain all at once. "We were just on different sides."

Haku looked at the young man who had lost so much and then at the boy who clung to his precious person protectively.

"This is getting boring," Gatou announced from in front of the line of wounded, haggard shinobi. "If you're not going to fight each other, at least die quietly."

Haku's hand slipped further into his sleeve and reappeared with four senbon clutched in between his fingers.

"I'm not going to be able to stop you, am I?" the question from Kaeru was quiet, almost pained.

Haku glanced back at him. Kaeru really did want to save him. No one had wanted that; no one had cared before Zabuza. Haku smiled gently at the wounded young man who could've been his friend, had circumstances been different. Then, he confidently stepped to the forefront of the line of defense, putting himself between the Konoha nin and Gatou's troops.

"Thank you, Kaeru-san," he said.

Haku flashed through the one-handed hand seals that provided him with one last ice mirror. He had his destination in mind before he even stepped into the familiar icy portal. Feeling his chakra connect to a small puddle at the end of the bridge, Haku emerged from the mirror that sprang up between the crowd of poorly outfitted samurai and the flimsy bridge that led from the end of the bridge down to the large boat they had arrived in.

With their faces still turned towards the place where the boy had disappeared, the group of samurai didn't even realize that they lost two members, way in the back, as soon as Haku drove his first two senbon into their heads at the base of their necks. Both men slumped to the concrete, instantly dead. Their comrades looked up when they missed their friends' presence. Haku saw one man wearing a flat straw hat turn on his heel. Before the man had a chance to plant his foot and regain his footing, Haku sent a senbon flying with deathly precision.

"Shit!" a voice called from beside him.

Haku flicked a single senbon into the man's throat without even looking. They knew he was there, now. Half the men had turned around to seek out their new threat while the rest remained staring down the potential threats that the Konoha nin still presented. Haku wasn't worried about the ones he had left behind, however. He was faster than Gatou's hired samurai, and Hatake was still well enough to fend off any sword wielders that ventured out of Haku's range.

Leaving a trail of dying or gasping samurai behind him, Haku cut his way through the crowd of men to his destination. The stout man's eyes widened behind the film of his glasses just as Haku caught his wrist in a clawed hand.

"I won't break your wrist this time," Haku murmured. His harsh grip was merely a formality to prevent the cowardly man from escaping as he seemed so desperate to.

Haku felt the blade enter his stomach from behind and knew his time was limited. Frozen in his position, he lifted one hand before his bloody chest and formed the necessary seals.

"Sensatsu Shuishou."

The water beneath Haku's feet, condensed from Zabuza's mist, flew up as if rain had decided it was going to reverse its direction for a moment. Then, the water gathered, sharpened, formed thousands of projectiles into a weapon that Haku was familiar with. With a thought, all the cold needles flew at Gatou. The corporate man had no way of combating a weapon made of chakra as the needles found all his vital points. The wounds didn't even bleed.

Haku felt the world grow from the narrow sight of his thousand needles embedded in Gatou to the men around him who had suddenly realized that their enemy wasn't moving after his attack. Haku felt another sword pierce through his left lung. He coughed at the foreign intrusion, and a wet, warm combination of blood and spit trickled down his chin. Gatou was already dead; Haku didn't think the samurai would know what to do without him. Which meant that Naruto and Kaeru might have a chance of their own, like Haku had had.

That thought made Haku smile even as his grip on Gatou's arm released.

* * *

Kakashi watched the boy fall, his Sharingan memorizing the path of the body as it collapsed with his victim, punctured by a thousand needles that Kakashi could no longer see. Haku was dead before he hit the ground, and still the same goons that had watched their leader become an icy pincushion now stabbed at Haku's bloody body repeatedly.

"Stop it," growled a low voice.

Kakashi glanced over at the two boys beside him. Naruto stood with his head hung down so that his eyes were shadowed. He had released Kaeru, who still knelt between Naruto and Zabuza's body, and his hands were clenched into tight fists. Kakashi shifted his weight subtly; it wouldn't be good if Naruto lost his head. And there was still the danger of Kyuubi to consider. Kakashi still had no idea why the seal had slipped or how Naruto had gotten it under control again. Although considering the way Kaeru had rushed off, perhaps it was safer to say that Kaeru had gotten things under control.

"Stop it," Naruto repeated, slightly louder, at the brutes near the end of the bridge.

Kaeru pushed himself off the bridge and staggered to his feet. The wound was still bleeding, and Kakashi was growing concerned. Those images on Kaeru's arms were not for show.

"Stop it!" Naruto finally exploded. "You bastards! Assholes!"

Far from aggravating the remaining enemies, Naruto's cries only served to remind them that there were still opponents to deal with. The men turned away from the broken body to look at the three conscious—if not battered—shinobi. And now, Kakashi, a bleeding teenager that could barely stand, and a pissed genin had to deal with about twenty men with swords.

"You brat," one of them growled. "You killed our paycheck."

Kakashi would have raised his eyebrows at the faulted logic of the statement, but his concentration was on the threat in front of him. Kaeru slowly withdrew a kunai from the holster on his thigh while he kept one hand on Naruto's shoulder. The younger boy had his teeth gritted, but the contact seemed to get him under control. Shouts of agreement rose up from Gatou's men. It seemed they realized that their commander—and money pouch—was dead.

"You think you can stand against us!" yelled a man in the front of the pack. "We'll pillage the whole village and take anything of worth."

Kakashi brought his hands together hurriedly. He didn't have enough chakra for another Chidori, much less to summon help. But maybe he could get by with some cheap tricks.

Suddenly, a bolt flashed past the three shinobi, and the lead man cut off his threats with a short arrow notched in his chest. Kakashi thought for a moment that one of his genin had thought to intervene.

The thought was cut short by the piping announcement.

"If you dare come into our village," shouted a young voice that didn't quite make it through without breaking, "we'll come at you with everything we got!"

"Hell yeah!" agreed a far more familiar voice.

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder to see dark-clad men, and some women, holding pitchforks, fishing spears, and plain wooden clubs gathered on the land where the bridge jutted out from the Nami no Kuni coastline. Inari led the charge with a strange metal cap that Kakashi suspected had been one of his mother's kitchen bowls. Perhaps more surprising, though, were the orange figures peppered throughout the frontlines of the crowd.

"Don't worry, Boss!" One of the clones waved vigorously at its creator. "We got this one!"

A clatter of metal made Kakashi focus back on Gatou's crew, but he soon discovered that he had no need. One of the men had dropped his sword.

"Back to the boat!"

The cry was immediately obeyed as all leftover thugs turned tail and ran for the thick rope bridge that led to the barge that had carried them to the bridge in the first place. Kakashi's shoulders slumped with the sudden release of tension, and his gaze traveled back to survey the results of the battle.

"Nice job, gaki." Kaeru clapped his hand on Naruto's shoulder once as the villagers cheered their success and sudden bravery.

Naruto said nothing in acknowledgement, which was slightly strange in and of itself. Then, Kakashi's eyes fell on the still, silent figures in between the three standing ninja and the villagers. Sakura knelt in front of Tazuna, beside a still, dark body that Kakashi recognized.

Sasuke wasn't moving.

* * *

For a moment, all he knew was the blackness, and all he could hear was the slow, steady beating of a heart that he wasn't sure was his own. He didn't know exactly where he was or why it was raining on his face. He could have been sleeping, but even in his hazy state of awareness, he couldn't remember dreaming. He remembered that there was something wrong with his surroundings. There was something that he should be concerned about.

Maybe it was that pressure on his chest. He peeled his eyes open heavily.

"Sakura," Sasuke called as soon as he caught sight of the pink hair hovering over him, "your arm's heavy."

Sakura raised her head suddenly. Her face was a soggy mess of tears, with pink eyes and cheeks from crying.

"Sasuke-kun!" she sobbed and fell onto the boy.

Sasuke couldn't stop the groan of pain that emerged from his clenched teeth. His entire body felt bruised and sluggish, like all his limbs had fallen asleep and didn't want to wake up. Sakura apologized profusely as she helped him to sit up. The old man, Tazuna, stood over them both, smiling in a knowing manner that Sasuke didn't think he liked.

"What happened to that masked kid?" demanded Sasuke. The last thing he could remember was being in the trap with Naruto. But they were getting out.

"He and Naruto were fighting," Sakura explained hurriedly. "Then, something weird happened. Naruto had some kind of jutsu or an attack that made him stronger. I don't know. Kaeru-kun came in, and he stopped them, but then they both disappeared, and Zabuza got killed."

Sasuke was finding it hard to pay attention to Sakura's explanation with her deep gasps after her sobs and rush of words that followed them. But he pieced together that both the masked ninja and Zabuza was no longer an issue they had to deal with.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so impressed you were able to prevent any critical injuries!" Sakura looked ready to envelope him in a relieved hug.

"No." Sasuke started to shake his head but found that his neck wouldn't obey his movements without pain. But Sakura was wrong. That masked kid had never intended to kill him. He hadn't even taken the obvious bait that Sasuke provided in order to let Naruto get a simple hit in.

Sasuke gently craned his neck so that he could study his surroundings. There was a crowd of people standing behind him at the end of the bridge. Kakashi and Kaeru stood near the end of the bridge with Naruto, all staring back at him. Naruto had a strange, disbelieving expression on his face. Sasuke quickly turned his head again so that he didn't have to look at that expression. Instead, he raised one sore arm in an acknowledging wave that turned into a simple gesture. As Naruto practically leaped forward to return the gesture, Sasuke wondered what exactly had happened between Naruto and Haku after he had fallen.

* * *

"Nice job," Kaeru repeated, softer this time.

Sasuke was okay. Haku hadn't killed him. The villagers had rallied behind Inari—with some help from Naruto, it seemed—and the idiot bullies were driven off. Gatou was even dead again, and Kaeru _knew _that he wouldn't miss the bastard. He seriously doubted if anyone in the world would.

Naruto shrugged off Kaeru's hand as he darted forward to return Sasuke's half-wave. Bastard was still arrogant as ever.

"I see," Kakashi remarked. "So, Sasuke made it. That's good."

Kaeru felt a sharp pain in his stomach and turned his head to cough into the crook of his elbow, muffling the sound. He felt the wetness before he saw the damp stain on his sleeve as he pulled his arm away. Great, now he was coughing up blood. Like he didn't have enough to worry—

A rasping breath cut his thoughts short, and Kaeru snapped his head to pin the source. The still figure on the bridge hadn't moved from where Haku had laid him, but apparently he wasn't quite as far gone as everyone assumed. Kaeru took a few steps on unsteady feet and knelt next to Zabuza.

"Not dead yet?" he asked, more curious as to the state of Zabuza's speech than the state of his soul.

"Sorry to disappoint."

The bandages that covered Zabuza's mouth and chin were stained pink and crimson. Kaeru lifted the kunai in his right hand and dragged it lightly across the man's cheek. The bloody strips of thin cloth fell away limply as a thin, steady stream of blood diluted with mucus and spit flowed from the corner of Zabuza's mouth. Kaeru had seen too much death to be disgusted, but he turned his head away anyway, thinking that Zabuza might not like an enemy to see him in such a state.

"Kid."

The soft demand caught Kaeru's attention, but he kept his eyes on Naruto, who was running to greet Inari while his clones punched each other in order to dispel themselves.

"Where's Haku?"

Kaeru glanced down at Zabuza. He was almost surprised that there wasn't any threat or animosity in Zabuza's gaze. Then again, maybe it wasn't that surprising. The question was simple, and Zabuza was expecting the answer to be as well.

"He's already waiting for you," answered Kaeru as his eyes flickered to the abrupt, unfinished end where the bridge dropped into the ocean.

"Let me see him." Zabuza's voice sounded wet, and blood was the only thing that Kaeru could smell. The man was dying.

"Yeah," Kaeru agreed, tucking his kunai back where it belonged.

He lifted Zabuza's right arm, the one that he _hadn't_ cut his way through, and forced the nuke-nin to sit up. Placing his shoulder at Zabuza's waist, Kaeru ducked his head and heaved so that he was carrying Zabuza over his shoulder, bracing the man's legs against his chest. Kaeru grunted at the strain the man's weight put on his wound, but he wasn't about to refuse Zabuza this. He knew how much the man really cared about his "tool."

Kaeru approached the bloody mess at the end of the bridge where Haku rested side-by-side with Gatou. Gritting his teeth, Kaeru shoved Gatou's body away roughly with a solid plant of his heel. The limp body rolled away then slumped to a stop with his blank face turned to the bridge. Fitting, Kaeru thought since the bridge was Gatou's greatest downfall anyway.

Kaeru knelt down and tried to ease Zabuza off his shoulder as gently as he could. Despite the clenched teeth and a couple very-close-to-abominable expletives, Kaeru managed to catch Zabuza's head before it made a solid connection with the concrete. He didn't want Zabuza to crack his head open before he had a chance to say good-bye.

Zabuza looked into Kaeru's eyes as the boy lowered him to the bridge beside the boy that had been his tool and his one companion. Kaeru didn't _think_ the look in Zabuza's eyes constituted gratitude. At least, he wasn't expecting a "thank you" out of the man. If anything, Kaeru would place it as understanding. Kaeru hoped he was right and nodded solemnly at Zabuza. Satisfied, Kaeru stood and watched Zabuza shakily raise one hand to close Haku's glazed eyes.

Kaeru looked to the water of the straight that separated Nami no Kuni from the mainland of the Elemental Countries. Could he have done anything differently? Maybe if he wasn't so focused on his own team, he could have approached Haku and Zabuza? Kaeru scoffed, then. They wouldn't have believed him, anyway.

* * *

Kakashi had watched the strangest of all his genin—and that was saying something—carry the dying Zabuza and lay him next to an already-dead Haku with no small amount of interest. Kaeru was bleeding heavily from the wound in his side, and Kakashi hadn't missed the smudge of blood on his chin that proved there were probably more injuries unseen that Kaeru had to deal with. Yet, Kaeru carried the man across the bridge without a word. Curiosity piqued, Kakashi turned from the scene of Naruto chatting with the villagers as Sakura tried to pick the needles from Sasuke's skin as delicately as she could.

By the time Kakashi reached the red-haired figure watching the waves, the only thing Kaeru was standing guard over was two bodies of a couple former enemies. Kakashi stood silently beside the teenager, once again affecting his hip attitude—and becoming very surprised when he found that it wasn't as easy to slip into as it had been. Kaeru just looked back to the bodies on the bridge with a face that one usually wore to funerals.

"I wanted to save him," murmured Kaeru.

Kakashi followed his dull blue gaze to the boy with dark hair, the one who noteably _hadn't _killed Sasuke.

"You knew him?"

The thought occurred to Kakashi that Whirlpool had been destroyed during the reign of Yondaime Mizukage, when bloodlines were practically hunted and stories like that of Demon Momochi Zabuza were almost expected. But Kaeru would have been too young to remember clearly that kind of reign. And that in no way accounted for the fact that Kakashi had seen Kaeru and had thought of Sensei.

"I was him," Kaeru's answer was strange and not at all what Kakashi was looking for.

"Kaeru." Kakashi forwent the hip attitude in favor of being a commander. "Before coming on this mission, did you have any contact with Momochi Zabuza or his apprentice?"

Kaeru was silent for a moment, his eyes still fixed on Haku's body. Then, he drew in a deep sigh and rolled his shoulders back.

"No, Jounin Hatake," he huffed as he met Kakashi's glare. "Before Team Seven was assigned the mission to Wave . . . I didn't know them." He paused before completing his sentence as if he had to find the right words.

"I saw him in the forest once." Kaeru suddenly nodded at Haku. "But I didn't know him."

Kaeru raised one hand to the back of his head and rubbed at his neck. Kakashi filed his answer away and wondered if he should press the issue. Kaeru didn't seem to be lying; a shinobi could pick up signs more quickly than most: increased heart rate, shifting eyes or weight. Kaeru had none of those. At the same time, he worded things carefully. Then, Kaeru met Kakashi's eyes once more, and the declaration that followed dismissed thoughts of treachery for the moment.

"Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra to fight Haku," said Kaeru without preamble. "Don't let him do that again."

"Me?" Kakashi's wide eyes were the picture of innocence. Or, they would have been if the Sharingan would stop spinning. "What do you think I can do?"

"He looks to you, Kakashi-sensei," Kaeru answered. "You're important to him."

Kakashi fell silent and tugged his hitai-ate down again to cover his Sharingan. He knew that Naruto had practically no one close to him. Kakashi had once been in the same state, but Kakashi had been there by choice not force. Now, Naruto had a brother-figure in Kaeru as well as a team in Team Seven. The only worry Kakashi had was if the two started to pull in opposite directions, which one would Naruto follow?

* * *

Kaeru stood beside Kakashi as the three younger kids knelt in front of two day-old graves. He had been slightly surprised that Kakashi had helped him with the bodies, but then again he didn't remember ever burying anybody the first time around. Kakashi must have done it himself. Naruto was tugging at the grass in front of him but otherwise remained completely still.

"Why did he want to die?" the blond suddenly blurted. "He wasn't a bad guy, why did . . . ?"

Naruto's eyes were dry as he trailed away, but no one attempted to answer his question, even if Kaeru was the only one who remembered the cold request. Kaeru sighed. Haku had once again shared his story with someone he thought could understand. And Naruto _would _understand.

"Haku was willing to do anything for Zabuza," announced Kaeru. "Even die for him."

His eyes were fixed on the graves. Zabuza's zanbato was plunged into the ground behind his headstone, while Haku's was decorated with a chain of flowers that Sakura had picked.

"No one can stand the pain of being alone." Kaeru kept his arms folded across his chest and ignored the feeling of a single, observant eye on him. "It's human nature to avoid it, no matter who we choose to save us from that hell. Zabuza saved Haku from his own loneliness. Because of that, Haku followed him faithfully, even if it meant that Haku would spend the rest of his life as a tool."

"So, was Haku right about shinobi?" Sakura ventured quietly. "That they're just tools?"

"For a shinobi, it is more important to be a tool," concluded Kakashi for his students. "The duty to the village comes first, even for the shinobi in Konoha."

"Even you believe that, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke, still baring a bandage on his forehead where he had hit the bridge, turned to the two figures behind him. His raised eyebrows were the only visible sign of his interest in the ongoing conversation.

There was a pause as Kakashi's eye shifted from Kaeru to the graves of his two enemies.

"Every ninja has to cope with that rule," he finally answered. "Zabuza and Haku acted as tools, even if they couldn't deny their humanity in the end."

Naruto's head sank lower as he fisted his hands into the grass.

"Is that what it means? That's all we are?" His voice was low, more of a growl than his regular boisterous spirit.

Kaeru stared at the young genin. He had thought—_hoped_—that Naruto would remain Naruto. He had wanted the boy to hear Haku's story. Naruto needed to learn the Rules somehow, and what better way than from those who had taught Kaeru? Haku had been the first to show him how painful loneliness could be and how important it was to protect those who were precious to him.

"Screw that," Naruto growled and stood up. "If that's what it means to be a shinobi, I don't want it."

Sasuke and Sakura looked up at their teammate suddenly, surprised by the uncharacteristic solemnity on his face.

"Does that mean you're quitting, dobe?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto's head snapped around to pin his rival with a determination that made his eyes look like lightning.

"Hell no!" shouted the boy. "I'm going to change it! I'm gonna make my own nindo, and when I'm Hokage, everyone's gonna follow it."

Sasuke's mouth turned up into an amused smirk at Naruto's declaration. Sakura just shook her head in exasperation. As for the redhead, Kaeru couldn't stop his face from breaking out into a wide grin. Now, _that _was what he wanted to hear. If he wasn't able to survive, at least he would make it possible for things to go right this time. Kaeru had already failed, but he wouldn't let Naruto do so. Naruto would get his chance to become a Hokage unlike any other. Except perhaps Yondaime.

Having declared his intentions, Naruto nodded once and stomped away from the gravesite, followed by Sakura, who was just beginning to lay into him for his disrespect of sacred areas like graves. Kakashi followed his two most rambunctious students as Sasuke slowly brought up the rear. Kaeru remained rooted to his spot for another minute. Slowly, he brought his bandaged palms together in front of his chest and bowed his head.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the two people he hadn't been able to save.

He hadn't been strong enough, even now. He hadn't been strong enough to make Haku see that he already had more than one precious person. Or maybe Haku knew it and merely chose to give his life for the one that still—always—meant the most to him. If they had lived, if they didn't have to fight anymore, would they both have chosen to live peacefully? No one had goals of being called a monster when they were young. Had Zabuza had dreams as well?

"He'll be stronger than me," Kaeru declared, not sure if he was even speaking to Zabuza and Haku alone anymore. "I promise."

* * *

A/N: Okay, who wants to kill the author now, raise your hands.

The majority of the reviews I got from the last chapter said _something _about my killing of Zabuza and keeping Haku. And I, having had this chapter planned out for some time, didn't want to reply to you guys because I knew what was going to happen, and I knew that some people would probably want to kill me for killing off such a popular character. This is also the first time I've tried to write a death scene for a character that I actually like. I don't think I did a superb job, but I am comparing myself to Kishimoto, who tends to give all good characters Shakespearean monologs right before they die (you doubt me? count how many villains get the chance to tell their life story to a Leaf ninja).

Continuing, Kakashi's Chidori is self-explanatory (i hope, big lightning-type jutsu), Kuchiyose is Summoning Jutsu. The best (meaning "coolest sounding") translation I found for Haku's Sensatsu Shuishou was "Thousand Stinging Needles of Death." In canon, Haku uses this attack on Sasuke, who dodges it. Gatou, being a company man, I think would have a harder time. Also, I didn't think Gatou had any kind of surname in the manga (or anime), so I gave him one. I thought it would make more sense for his company to bear his surname than just calling it the Gatou Corporation. I believe Tasaka is made up of the Japanese for "rice paddy" and "slope." Seeing as the Japanese last names could come from a reference to a place of origin or birth, I thought it would be a suitable hinting at a backstory for Gatou.

And yes, Sasuke's still alive, Kakashi's still suspicious, and the Wave Arc is pretty much done. Good riddance! That thing took me far longer than I wanted it to. I'll be glad when I get to the Chuunin Exams.

But first, the wrap-up . . .

Sincerely,

Fia


	17. Chapter 17

Six hands, all with the same nick at the base of the left thumb, supported a large post from its base as the ropes attached to the top of it grew taut. Arms pulled and strained, feet planted into the ground, and muscles _heaved_. Then the long pole shifted into place and sunk into the hole dug for it at the end of the bridge.

"Yatta!" shouted three different figures of Naruto as they all pumped their nicked-up hands in the air.

"Well, that's done at least." Tazuna pushed the ratty hat back from his brow and looked up proudly at the tall post that would eventually become the _torii_ gate in front of his bridge.

"Looks good, guys!" Naruto called down to the workers below him.

Perched on top of the opposing post on the north side of the bridge, Naruto could oversee everything while his clones helped out with the work. He thought it was a pretty good setup.

"Naruto! Get down from there and help us!"

Well, it _was _a pretty good setup until Sakura-chan thought he was being lazy. Naruto grimaced as he perched sideways on the post, then ran down the wooden post until he kicked off the wood beneath his feet and flipped onto the hard concrete of the finished bridge. Sakura shot him a suspicious glare—he really hoped she wasn't going to tell him off for being lazy—but then she said nothing and turned back to stirring the concrete that would hold the posts in place.

"It's not fair that you don't do any work around here," huffed Sakura. "Even if you are more healed than Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei."

"But, Sakura-chan, _we're _working!" one of his clones protested loudly.

"That doesn't count." Sakura gave the cement a particularly hard jab.

"Now, now, children," Kakashi sing-songed as he approached his students.

Sakura paused long enough in her work to shoot her sensei a brief glare, but Naruto cowed at being caught arguing with Sakura-chan. Still, he couldn't let the flawed reasoning go.

"Shadow clones count as working, Sakura-chan," Naruto repeated. "I get all the experience after they dispel, so it's like I'm working, too. It's memory diff . . . differation or something."

Kaeru-nii-san had explained the basics when the whole team had needed patching up after their battle. The reason Naruto had known that there were two guys with very sharp swords at Tazuna's house was because his clone had known it and then transferred the knowledge to Naruto.

"Memory diffusion," Sakura corrected halfheartedly.

Naruto just shrugged at the correction. Kaeru had explained it better. He said that Kage Bunshin was a tool, like any other jutsu. So the clones couldn't think of themselves as independent. That was Naruto's mistake in Kakashi-sensei's first test. He spent too much time arguing with his own clones. Whenever Kaeru-nii fought with his clones, they never needed to be told what to do. Naruto was still working on the whole obedience thing. _His _clones tended to rush into things with more enthusiasm than planning.

Naruto sidled up to Tazuna and watched the man beam proudly at his new bridge. The shortest worker of the day bounded up to them both with a smile on his face that rivaled Naruto's.

"Hey, Naruto, isn't this great?" he demanded. "We got it finished!"

Naruto grinned at the boy. Inari had been great during the week of working on the bridge. Since Inari would only listen to his grandfather or Naruto, the hyperactive genin had been unceremoniously given the responsibility of the kid. For some reason, the kid kept following Naruto around, trying to help where he could.

"Yeah, it's great, gaki." Naruto borrowed Kaeru-nii's favorite nickname for him as he rubbed his knuckles across the boy's head roughly.

He didn't really mean to sound so sarcastic, but he wasn't used to such devoted attention from anyone. Kakashi-sensei was his sensei, but he was also in charge of Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme. Naruto remembered a time when Hokage-jiji would visit him in his apartment, but he was the Hokage. He had a lot more to do than just visit troublesome orphans, and Naruto knew it. That Konohamaru kid sometimes followed him around, but that happened less often now that the new round of Academy students had classes daily. Kaeru-nii-san was really the only one who constantly stuck with Naruto now. Even that was a new development. Naruto was more used to being alone than being a brother.

"Well, we should go home for lunch," Tazuna announced, rubbing his hands together briskly.

"Yes!" Naruto pumped one fist into the air as his clones disappeared with an audible _poof_. He flinched when he felt the onslaught of experience, and he had to look down at his hand to check for the nicks that his clones had gotten carrying the pole. But his hands were clean.

"What about Sasuke-kun and Kaeru-kun?" demanded Sakura-chan.

"Sasuke will find Kaeru," Kakashi answered confidently.

Kaeru had been at the bridge but then sent back to check on Tsunami when Inari showed up halfway through the morning. When Kaeru hadn't returned, Kakashi had commanded Sasuke to follow the teenager. When Naruto had demanded that he go to fetch his cousin instead, Kakashi had just smiled and replied that Sasuke would know where to look.

Kakashi-sensei could be a bastard sometimes.

"C'mon, let's go!" Inari cried eagerly and pulled at Naruto's hand.

"Fine, fine." Despite himself, Naruto smiled. Food would be good, and he wanted to see where Kaeru-nii-san had gotten to.

* * *

Sasuke kicked a rotten log in front of him and watched the wood splinter and fly in large, damp chunks. Kaeru wasn't at Tazuna's house; hadn't even stopped by once he left the bridge. Sasuke knew where the older boy was: the same place he tended to visit when he wasn't working on the bridge or talking with his team, mostly to Naruto. Kaeru never explained himself whenever he came back from the forests. He rarely explained anything about himself, although Sasuke still remembered the conversation that had revealed exactly what had happened on the bridge while Sasuke was unconscious.

_Kaeru had been sitting on one of the few chairs within Tazuna's house, shirtless so that the markings that stretched from his rib cage to his waist were visible. Naruto stood beside his cousin with a palette of ink and a well-used brush. Sasuke and Sakura sat on the floor in front of the pair, Sasuke staring at anything but his teammates; he was determined not to show his curiosity. Kakashi was sitting in a corner of the same room, flipping through his orange book with an intensity born of perverse concentration._

_Naruto ran his teeth along his bottom lip as he concentrated on Kaeru's wound. The gash on Kaeru's right side had faded to a puckered pink line that cut through the twisted black markings. Naruto loaded his brush with ink and traced the broken lines over the scar tissue on Kaeru's side. Kaeru flinched at the first contact of the ink on his skin, but then his eyes caught on the two in front of him. _

_"Don't worry, Sakura-chan." His cringe suddenly turned into a cocky grin. "I heal fast. Something me and the brat got in common. I'll just watch out for giant swords from now on."_

_A glance over at Sakura told Sasuke that the girl wasn't quite convinced yet. She twisted her fingers together almost nervously and frowned at Kaeru before she lowered her eyes._

_"Naruto, I . . . I want to know," she began hesitantly. "What did you do on the bridge?"_

_"Huh?" was Naruto's intelligent response._

_Sasuke raised his eyes to the boy and silently demanded him to catch on. Sakura hadn't been able to explain fully what had happened with Naruto. Only that he had become suddenly stronger._

_"When Sasuke was . . ." Sakura's eyes darted to the boy in question, and Sasuke scowled at her. He didn't need to be reminded that he had succumbed to Haku's superiority. If the boy hadn't deliberately kept him alive, Sasuke would have been dead for real._

_"When he was unconscious," Sakura amended. "You and Haku were fighting. Was that a jutsu? Or a bloodline?"_

_Sasuke nearly scoffed at the idea of an idiot like Naruto having a _kekkei genkai_. Then he saw the way Naruto's face paled while his hand froze with the brush a breath away from Kaeru's skin._

_"You have to have a clan to have a bloodline, Sakura," Kaeru interjected calmly. Ignoring Naruto's frozen state, he focused on the young kunoichi instead. "Uzumaki was never a clan. There's not even—" _

_The cut off was harsh and violent in a way that Kaeru's words almost never were. But Sasuke saw the older boy's eyes flick over Naruto's taut figure before they dropped down abruptly. An older brother regretting or wishing to protect, Sasuke wasn't sure which would be a more accurate description._

_"It's more like shared traits," Kaeru sighed and took up his explanation again._

_"Shared traits?" Sakura repeated, apparently oblivious to any lingering tension. But the question erased the last remnants of melancholy from Kaeru's face._

_"Ya ever seen Inuzuka fight?" he inquired and watched Sakura lift her face in thought. "It's like that. Adrenaline does funny things to us."_

_Sasuke remembered the Inuzuka, the boy who had graduated with him and his teammates—even Naruto. He always had a white puppy with him, and when he got angry, he sneered and growled like he was more animal than human._

_"What kind of funny things?" questioned Sakura._

_"Have you heard of fight or flight?" Kaeru's blue eyes pierced Sakura with the question. When she nodded, he continued: "We don't get to choose flight. Increased speed and strength. Even our aggression goes way up."_

_He raised one hand and counted off the attributes on his fingers as he listed them. Even Naruto's eyes were on Kaeru now, which meant that Sasuke had a hard time determining his reaction. When Sakura had first posed the question, Naruto had almost been panicked; now he was hanging on to Kaeru's words as if he were trying to memorize them._

_"But it doesn't last, and the let down can be worse than coming off opium," finished Kaeru. "It's a Rule. Number three hundred and fifty-six or something: power _always _costs something and the shortcuts cost more than they're worth."_

Sasuke rounded a tree with old scars on it, slashes across the trunk reaching up to the canopy. _Power_. He hadn't thought about Itachi since the battle on the unfinished bridge. At the time, he had been too preoccupied with recovery and then trying to figure out what had happened during his state of oblivion. But now Naruto, and maybe Kaeru as well, had a power that made them stronger, even if Kaeru treated it like a curse instead.

Sasuke ran his hand over the kunai marks on the tree as he passed it. Training with Naruto and Kaeru—it had almost felt normal. And then, Sasuke had fought with Naruto inside that cage of ice. With_ Naruto_. With a dead last student who shouldn't have even graduated were it not for extenuating circumstances that Sasuke _still _wasn't fully aware of. Something about a remedial test with Iruka. But Naruto had fought with him. He had shaken Sasuke out of a stupor of failed plans and actually _helped _him fight. And then Sasuke had formed a plan that had gotten himself killed.

Well, not really killed, but the fact that he had woken up was moot point. If Haku wanted, if he had been a real ninja, he could have driven those senbon deep enough into Sasuke's neck to sever his nerves and ensure that he never woke again. And some part of Sasuke—some deep, dark part that sounded like either his father's stern tone or Itachi's cold command—berated him for dying so easily when he was nowhere closer to his goal than he had been when he graduated Academy. Sasuke didn't pay close enough attention to it to find out which one he was hearing in the depths of his mind.

He kicked at a loose stone in the ground and forcibly shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind, determined to bury them along with this mission. He was supposed to be an Avenger. No one else could share this with him. Not even someone who treated him like a brother might.

* * *

Kaeru stared at the grave markers and wondered, not for the first time, what peace his sensei ever found by staring at the dead. Then again, maybe peace wasn't the right idea. Either way, whatever Kakashi found at his friend's memorial site was missing from this place. Kaeru had been staring at Zabuza and Haku's graves for days and still hadn't come up with any brilliant insight or sudden illumination. He hated to beat himself up over things he couldn't change, so he tried not to think about how things could've gone. And he had already grieved for the boy who could've been his friend once in his lifetime, so Haku's death hadn't hit him quite as hard now.

Kaeru ran his palm along his right side. His seals were back in place and functioning perfectly, from what he could tell. Kaeru was still wondering what his team thought of his elementary explanation of Naruto's strange and sudden strength on the bridge. Obviously, Kakashi knew it for a lie. Kaeru was a bit surprised that Sasuke and Sakura had believed it, actually. Thankfully, Tsunami had insisted on lunch before any more questions were asked. Naruto had volunteered to stay behind with Kaeru, painting over the broken lines on his side.

One good thing about making the excuse of visiting your enemies' graves, Kaeru found, was that no one dared to bug you. Even Kakashi, suspicious as he was, had enough respect for the dead not to approach Kaeru while he was alone. Although, a familiar prickling sensation on the back of his neck suggested that other teammates were not so courteous.

"Not nice to sneak up on people, Uchiha," Kaeru announced. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned at the dark boy behind him. "Especially if you're on the same side."

Sasuke just stared back at him with a slight frown as he took in the graves in front of Kaeru.

"What are you doing?" demanded the boy.

"Just thinking." Kaeru shrugged and turned away from the graves. He was done talking to ghosts, anyway. "'S it time to go?"

Sasuke didn't give an answer, but Kaeru didn't really expect one to begin with. They walked side by side in silence while Kaeru puzzled how best to talk to a boy he wanted to save without ever hinting that the boy was in danger. After all, he didn't think Sasuke had changed enough yet not to jump at a chance at power. Kaeru liked to think Sasuke would at least deliberate a bit by now.

"Why did you help me?" Sasuke suddenly blurted. When Kaeru looked curiously at the boy, Sasuke explained: "With training?"

Kaeru shoved his hands into his pockets, ignoring the way the new skin on his side stretched uncomfortably.

"Why are you so surprised someone did?" he huffed in return.

For a genius, Sasuke could be remarkably slow at certain things, mostly involving the people around him. Kaeru shook his head and glanced from the corner of his eye at the boy beside him, who was decidedly unhappy at having been answered with another question.

"You don't have to do everything on your own, ya know, Sasuke," suggested Kaeru, hoping Sasuke would catch on. "There are people around who could make you stronger. Like your teammates."

_Hint, hint, Uchiha_. Kaeru tried not to show that he was watching Sasuke carefully, but Sasuke just glowered at the ground in front of him. Kaeru had seen the look directed at him enough times to know that Sasuke found something annoying and didn't want to admit it.

_"Dobe_," Sasuke growled lowly. "I never meant to die for him."

The sentiment was so unexpected that Kaeru stopped walking. Well, it wasn't _too_ shocking that Sasuke wanted to deny any kind of connection with his teammates. Even years later, Kaeru hadn't been able to get a straight answer out of his closest friend as to what was behind that lethal hit for him. Kaeru was more shocked that Sasuke had admitted such out loud.

"Why not?" Kaeru addressed Sasuke's back quietly.

Sasuke froze, but he didn't turn around. Kaeru knew Sasuke's pain; he knew how badly Sasuke wanted his vengeance, bad enough to keep himself alive for that end. But, all things died. Even gods and demons could be brought down. And sacrifice wasn't such a bad thing. Kaeru had just been on the receiving end too many times for his tastes.

"He'd do the same for you," he ventured, because he truly believed that Naruto _would_ give up his life for his team, if not Sasuke in particular quite yet. "So would I."

Kaeru could see all the muscles in Sasuke's back tighten. He wasn't really sure why he had added his own admission to his declaration. Maybe it wasn't the best thing for Sasuke to hear. But if it meant saving Sasuke's soul from the ones he didn't even know about, the ones who all wanted him to dance under their own strings, Kaeru would die and do so willingly.

"Why?" Sasuke whispered.

A handful of answers flitted their way through Kaeru's mind, none of which he could actually say out loud. _Because you were the first brother I had. Because I've seen what happens, and it's hell. Because there's no way I'm letting you die again. Because it would hurt too much._ Kaeru swallowed hard and started walking again. As he passed Sasuke's still form, he remembered the words he had heard once from the boy who was his first and only brother.

"How should I know?" answered Kaeru.

* * *

Tazuna stood at the edge of the village—_his _village—and surveyed his work as he waited for his guests to finish saying goodbye. Hatake-san had been held up by a young man named Daiki, who had been eying the older man's small orange-covered book for the past week. His daughter was talking to the three kids, probably admonishing them to be careful on the journey home, but Naruto's attention was repeatedly snatched up by Inari. Tazuna hadn't seen the boy so excited since before Kaiza had been killed. This ragged team from the hidden village of Konoha, the ones Tazuna was sure more than once would be killed in _his _defense, they saved Tazuna's village.

Kaeru finished shaking hands with Giichi, who had come back to work after word got around that Gatou was dead, and walked up to Tazuna.

"Hey, nice bridge, old man." Kaeru grinned widely and nodded down the length of the stone bridge that reached for the opposite shore. "Looks even better when it's finished."

Tazuna liked the young man at his side. Kaeru was always smiling, and he worked with his whole heart. In fact, the few times Kaeru actually acted like a shinobi was when Tazuna had seen him fighting, otherwise he acted more like an older brother to the three kids with him and a fellow worker with those on the bridge. He reminded Tazuna a little of Kaiza.

"Be sure to give it a good name," commanded the young man with a grin.

A name? Tazuna hadn't really thought of the name of his bridge yet. He assumed he would name it after himself: _Tazuna's Great Bridge_. After all, he was the one who organized the thing. But then, Tazuna glanced over at Kaeru, who was looking at Naruto and Inari argue over what sounded like the best kind of meal. Naruto was proposing ramen while Inari stuck with yakizakana from the sea that surrounded his island.

"I was wondering, Kaeru-kun," began Tazuna suddenly. "Is Uzumaki a well-known name in Konoha?"

"Not very," Kaeru scoffed. "I . . . Naruto was practically born an orphan, and I . . . don't originally come from Konoha."

Tazuna noted the young man's uncomfortable pauses in his explanation and frowned.

"You're not from Konoha?"

Kaeru shook his head glumly and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"I came to Konoha from the former Whirlpool Country to help Naruto," he explained.

The _former _country? Then again, Tazuna thought he remembered something about that. There had once been a country named for the swirling sea at its border. They said only the most skilled sailors could reach it by sea, which was why most people chose to journey across Hi no Kuni to reach the smaller country. But then, the country had simply disappeared from all mention. Everyone stopped talking about it right around the time the Yondaime Mizukage of Kirigakure had gotten violent.

"But, Naruto's name is going to be all over the country one day," announced Kaeru. "Believe it."

Tazuna couldn't even call Kaeru's tone hopeful; it was too confident, too fierce, for mere hope. He stated it like a fact: his little brother was going to be famous.

"Well, thank you for having us, Tazuna-san," Hatake suddenly announced his presence as he stepped up behind Kaeru.

The red-headed boy jumped slightly then put out his tongue in a childish sign of petulance. Kakashi just ignored the boy as he smiled—or it _looked_ like he smiled—at Tazuna.

"Are you sure you have to leave so late?" Tsunami inquired, more of the kids she was escorting than the teacher that stood in front of the group now.

"If we leave already, we'll get back to Konoha by tonight," answered Kakashi. "And we have yet to turn our report to our Hokage."

"Don't worry." Kaeru beamed. "Now that we have a bridge, it'll be easier to come and visit."

"Yeah, you guys have to come to Konoha sometime," Naruto agreed loudly. "I'll show you Ichiraku's ramen is the best."

"Ha, whatever." Inari pulled a face at the boy, but his smile afterwards belied his words.

"Thank you again." Tsunami bowed in the direction of the Konoha nin as all five members of the shinobi team lined up in front of the small family.

"Jaa ne." Kakashi waved and turned to lead the way back to Konoha.

Naruto waved enthusiastically and trotted after his sensei, followed by Sasuke and Sakura as Kaeru lifted one hand in farewell and brought up the rear.

"I like those guys," declared Inari firmly.

"They were able to help us all," agree Tsunami. "The entire village."

Tazuna nodded thoughtfully, keeping his eyes on the retreating figures. That Naruto kid had been able to change Inari's mind about heroes, and even a fool like Tazuna could tell that Kaeru had felt the pain of the whole village, the hopelessness that they had resigned themselves to. Hearing the kid's hesitant explanation, Tazuna knew that Kaeru had come from a dead country to a living one. No wonder the boy had such hope.

"Say, this bridge still needs a name, doesn't it?" Tazuna pondered to his family. "How about The Great Uzumaki Bridge?"

"Whirlpool?" questioned Tsunami. "Are you sure you want to name it that?"

"Yeah." Tazuna nodded.

In honor of a country that had been forgotten and two boys who had restored hope to a country that had lost its faith, Tazuna thought it was completely appropriate.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't quite admit to the relief he felt in seeing Kakashi's Team Seven standing in his office, complete with their temporary ally of Uzumaki Kaeru. But he did allow himself to smile in return to Naruto's proud, toothy grin.

"Hey, we did good, old man, didn't we?" the brightest of all this year's genin demanded, his eyes daring anyone to refute him.

"I'm sure you did, Naruto." It was far easier to smile at someone who was already so enthused. "The scroll will tell me the same thing, won't it?"

He held up the mission report that Kakashi had handed over as soon as the team had entered. He caught Kaeru rolling his eyes at the ceiling and wondered if he knew something extra that the scroll contained.

"Thank you, Team Seven." Sarutobi nodded a dismissal towards the young shinobi.

He was somewhat unsurprised when Kakashi didn't move from his position. His students noticed his hesitation as well, while Kaeru just turned his back on the party in his quest towards the door.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started to call.

"Naruto," called Kaeru shortly without looking back. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm going home. Now, gaki."

"Oh."

Sudden realization dawned in Naruto's eyes. He scampered after his cousin, giving his teammates a final wave. Sasuke and Sakura followed the other two out and back into dusky Konoha, presumably to go home and sleep as well. Once the door was closed behind the genin, Sarutobi laced his fingers together and rested them on his desk.

"How was the mission, Kakashi?" he asked in what would have been a casual manner were it not for the piercing look in his eyes.

"Interesting." Kakashi stood lazily in the center of the floor with his hands in his pockets.

Hiruzen raised his eyebrows. "Interesting" was hardly a descriptive adjective, and it didn't explain near enough. The C-ranked mission was supposed to be an escort mission. There was no reason for Kakashi's team to be gone more than a week, even if they had been helping on the bridge as Naruto had bragged.

"Tazuna-san failed to specify that Tasaka Gatou was after his life," explained Kakashi. "The mission became an A-rank before we even reached Tazuna's house in Nami."

Hiruzen's teeth came together behind his lips. Tasaka Gatou was a name he recognized, if only as a nuisance he needed to keep an eye on because of the closeness of Nami no Kuni to Hi no Kuni's borders. But it was the A-rank declaration that worried the Hokage more.

"There were complications?" Hiruzen confirmed.

"A total of four Kiri nuke-nin." Kakashi's slouch belied the serious nature of their discussion. "My team took care of the first two without much trouble. Then we ran into Momochi Zabua, along with a survivor of the Hyouton bloodline."

Hiruzen listened carefully to every inflection, every tone, every word choice that Kakashi used to describe the simple escort mission that had turned into a protection detail, a lesson in chakra control, and, to top it all off, an appearance by the demon residing within Uzumaki Naruto.

"You didn't see how Kaeru reacted to the Kyuubi's chakra?" Hiruzen interrupted Kakashi firmly once he had gotten to the point when Kaeru disappeared into the mist.

"No," replied Kakashi. "I had captured Zabuza and intended to use Chidori. Haku used his ice mirror to transport in front of Zabuza. I'm sure he was planning to take the blow for his master."

Kakashi's gaze darted to gaze out the window behind the Sandaime for a moment. He had a faraway look in his single eye, and Hiruzen wondered how bad the mission could have been for him.

"Kaeru stopped me before I could kill the boy," Kakashi finished as he looked back to his Hokage.

"Stopped you?" repeated Hiruzen.

"He held my wrist while his hand was encased in chakra." Kakashi lifted his right arm and wrapped his fingers around his raised wrist to demonstrate. "Wind-natured."

Hiruzen nodded. All the elements balanced each other; Lightning was weak against Wind. Still, for Kaeru to use raw Wind chakra instead of molding it into a jutsu suggested that he was Wind-natured by default.

"I can't tell that my Chidori affected him at all," Kakashi continued, "but he was already wounded."

"I see." Hiruzen leaned back in his chair to afford his tense muscles a shift in position. "And then?"

"Then Gatou showed up," reported the jounin succinctly. "He put a spear through Zabuza. Haku killed Gatou with one of his bloodline techniques. The rest is in the report."

That probably meant that there was nothing else imperative—it did sound like most of the enemies Kakashi and his team had been faced with were good enough to kill each other off—and Kakashi was looking for a dismissal. Still, there was an uncomfortable air about him. There was something else about this mission that Kakashi would only tell to the name at the memorial stone.

"And there is nothing else you wish to add, Kakashi?" Hiruzen persisted anyway.

Kakashi looked up, and his eye almost turned completely blank, so very different from his normal, smiling state that Sarutobi was sure his heart rate increased.

"Kaeru and Naruto have the same eyes," Kakashi stated nonchalantly, "did you notice?"

Sarutobi had noticed, but he doubted the importance of this sudden revelation.

"They _are_ reputed to be related," he said calmly instead.

"Naruto has his father's eyes."

The declaration, simply made and delivered, took a full forty-three seconds to sink into Hiruzen's mind. He was careful to show absolutely nothing in his visage as he nodded at the jounin before him.

"Take three days respite before your next mission, Kakashi," he ordered. "Your team could use it."

There were no regulations for genin who had successfully completed an A-rank mission, but all shinobi were expected to rest and recover from a mission of that difficulty. And despite Naruto's ever-present enthusiasm when he had entered the office, Sandaime still worried that the boy had taken on and seen too much in his first trip outside of Konoha. Kakashi nodded and turned away without a comment.

As the door to his dark office closed, Hiruzen closed his eyes and felt—not for the first time in the past few years—very, _very_ tired. He opened his eyes again and glanced up at the portraits of his predecessors before his gaze fell on the youngest face on the wall. Namikaze Minato was well-known for his appearance: fair-haired and blue-eyed in a village where the strongest bloodlines were all traditionally dark-colored with pale complexions. Naruto did share his father's coloring, and Hiruzen was reminded of that every time the boy came into his office.

But the old Hokage hadn't known Uzumaki Kushina that well. She had never risen in the ranks like those around her, although the war provided little opportunity for anything except field promotions when a commander was killed in action. Minato himself was usually careful to avoid crowds when he was in Konoha. He was friendly enough to those he knew, his friends and his comrades, but he was never quite sure what to do with his adoring public, the ones who wanted to thank him for every life they thought he had saved and every good deed he was rumored to have done. As a result, not many people had actually known that he was in love with a foreign kunoichi from Whirlpool. A young woman with bright red hair and _green _eyes.

Hiruzen shook himself out of the past and back into his present predicament. There was no reason a boy who claimed to be related to Uzumaki Kushina should have eyes more like the man she loved. And then there was the new, additional fact that Kaeru had somehow calmed Kyuubi's chakra and had his own seals that were unknown to anyone. Hiruzen recognized them for suppressing seals, but if they were truly meant to suppress Kaeru's chakra coils, he wouldn't even have enough chakra left to remain alive with the amount of seals on his body. But the boy had specifically stated that his seals kept him alive, much as he hated them.

It was too much to consider. Hiruzen knew about seals; every Hokage was required to know something about just about every method of using chakra. But the Yondaime had been a genius with seals, far above any other Kage of any of the Elemental Countries. The fact that Hiruzen might need someone of the same caliber as Minato to deduce what Kaeru's seals were for did not comfort him. He reached into his desk and pulled out a blank scroll. There were two places his wayward student regularly checked for news from Konoha while he was traveling. He would need someone who knew both seals and Minato's history, and Jiraiya was the only one left.

* * *

"You're not adjusting," Kaeru called.

"This is how Iruka-sensei taught me!" Naruto huffed in protest.

His cousin had woken him up at an hour usually reserved for roosters and crazy ninja who trained too much. Now, he had Naruto in the training arena that Kakashi-sensei had first tested his team in, running through katas while simultaneously facing off against a Kaeru clone. And Naruto was doing it _right_, no matter what Kaeru-nii-san said.

"Yeah, but what if you're fighting someone taller than you?" Kaeru pushed himself off his seat on the grass and winced as he braced one hand on his left knee.

Naruto relaxed and chewed on his lip briefly. Kaeru hadn't let him check his seals since the day he had painted over the wound, that same day that Kaeru had made up a story to tell Sasuke and Sakura-chan. Naruto was pretty sure that Kakashi knew the story was a lie, since he looked old enough to know the truth—although the way he acted didn't always match up with his gray hair. But Sasuke and Sakura-chan seemed to believe it, so that was a relief. He didn't really want to have to tell them that the greatest disaster to hit Konoha since the last war was actually contained inside their teammate.

"They're not gonna bend down just so you can punch them in the jaw." Kaeru approached Naruto and continued with his explanation. "What're you gonna do like that, bite my ankles?"

Naruto stuck out his tongue at the ridiculous suggestion, but his happy mood didn't last long.

"Hey, _nii-san_," he called quietly. "You sure you're okay?"

Kaeru frowned at the boy in a way Naruto knew suggested puzzlement more than anything else.

"I'm fine," replied the older boy. "Why—"

Kaeru cut himself off and gave Naruto a searching look. Like he was looking right through Naruto, past the seal and the smile and everything.

"Are you thinking about what happened on the bridge?"

A lot of things had happened on the bridge, but somehow Naruto knew exactly what Kaeru was talking about. That feeling of having his insides burn, like his blood was on fire, and wanting to hurt someone so badly that his mouth watered because of it. Naruto felt a shiver travel the length of his spine, from the back of his neck down past his shoulder, and stared at the ground in front of his feet.

"Naruto, you know what happened then, right?" Kaeru wasn't moving, so Naruto couldn't tell if he was angry. Then again, he didn't think he had ever seen his cousin really angry. He got annoyed sometimes, and he was serious about the guys he had been fighting in Wave, but not angry.

"That was—" Naruto started then stopped to swallow. "That was the Kyuubi, right?"

He thought it was the Kyuubi; he was pretty sure it was the Kyuubi. At any rate, that evil feeling couldn't have come from _him_, right?

"Yeah, that was Kyuubi," Kaeru answered solemnly. "Or Kyuubi's chakra. That seal of Yondaime's makes it so that you can pull out Kyuubi's chakra in extreme circumstances."

"Really?" Naruto wondered how Kaeru knew so much about Kyuubi, but he _had _said that Sandaime-jiji told him about the fox and how it was sealed into Naruto. Maybe Sandaime knew more about it as well.

"Yeah, but it can also get out if you're really angry or upset." Kaeru suddenly knelt down in front of Naruto and stared at the boy. "Naruto, you can't let that happen."

Kaeru sounded so deathly serious that Naruto had to look up. Kaeru's face had that tired look again, the one he got when he was staring at the seals on his arms sometimes.

"You can't depend on that strength," he commanded. "That kind of chakra isn't meant to mix with humans. Every time you use it, it'll cut back on your life span."

Naruto blinked and studied his cousin carefully, remembering what he had said to explain the markings on both his arms and his body.

"Is that what happened to you, Kaeru-nii?"

Kaeru's shoulders jerked with tension as his light eyes widened suddenly. Then, his shoulders slumped back down.

"Yeah," he answered. "Something like that."

Kaeru rested one hand on his knee and pushed himself to his feet again.

"That's enough of a break," announced the redhead suddenly. "Try it again. And remember to overcompensate, okay?"

"Okay." Naruto nodded firmly and switched his mind from evil chakra and body-destroying demons back to the proper way to punch someone who was at least twenty centimeters taller than him.

Kaeru didn't make any shadow clones, which let Naruto focus solely on the older boy as he danced around the younger. Naruto was pretty sure that the two times he had hit Kaeru—once on his right shoulder and once he just grazed the left side of Kaeru's stomach—were only because Kaeru had let him. But then, Kaeru grabbed the front of Naruto's orange jacket and lifted the boy up so that his toes were barely grazing the ground. Naruto panicked for a moment before a more primal instinct kicked in and he urged all the muscles in his neck to jerk forward.

"Nwagh!" Kaeru cried as he dropped his captive and covered his bleeding nose with his hand.

Naruto landed easily on his feet and rushed forward even as Kaeru backed away, more concerned about Kaeru's bleeding than the pressure on his own head from where his forehead had collided with Kaeru's nose.

"Kaeru-nii! You okay?" he demanded.

"'M fine, gaki." Kaeru tilted his head back and swiped the excess blood from his upper lip. "Don't worry. That's what a _hitai-ate_ is for."

The teenager looked back down at Naruto and pinched the skin between his mouth and nose.

"See, it's already stopped." He held out his bloody fingers to show Naruto. "Besides, we got an audience."

Naruto turned and followed the older gaze over his shoulder to the dark boy hovering at the edge of the green training grounds. Naruto glared hotly at the interruption of his lesson with Kaeru-nii-san.

"What're you doing here, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto yelled with a finger pointed rudely at his teammate.

"You don't have a monopoly on training grounds, dobe," retorted Sasuke snidely.

Naruto wasn't quite sure what Sasuke was saying about the training grounds, but he could discern an insult from Sasuke any day.

"That's enough," Kaeru stated suddenly with his clean hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's a day off, right?"

Naruto pouted but obediently let the matter go. It _was _a day off, and he wasn't going to waste it by fighting with Sasuke. Kaeru swiped his blood-stained fingers on his dark pants and used his sleeve to wipe the last of the drying blood from his face.

"Y'know," he began thoughtfully, "I think I still owe you two ramen."

"Yeah!" Naruto's eyes widened in realization. "We mastered that tree climbing, Kaeru-nii-san. You owe us!"

"Yeah, sure." Kaeru's grin stretched out his cheeks. "We'll go to Ichiraku's."

Naruto let out a whoop and pumped his fist in the air. Ramen definitely made up for a shortened lesson, even with Kaeru. He led the way off the field, followed by Kaeru who stopped to wave to Sasuke as they both passed him.

"C'mon then, Sasuke-teme." Kaeru grinned as he emphasized Naruto's best name for the Uchiha.

Sasuke scowled as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"I don't like ramen," the boy growled.

Naruto glanced over his shoulder to scowl Sasuke. Who _didn't _like ramen?

"Too bad." Kaeru just shrugged. "It's what I promised. Besides, the way he eats, I won't be able to afford anything else."

Naruto suddenly transferred his scowl from Sasuke to Kaeru. He just _knew _his cousin was talking about him, but it wasn't Naruto's fault that he liked ramen so much. It was a good meal, cheap so he could actually afford to buy it, and he got hungry, so of course he had to have more than one bowl. Besides, Kaeru was paying this time, so Naruto would put up sitting with the bastard for a little while at least.

* * *

The trip to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand ended up being a Team-Seven thing instead of a Kaeru-treating-Naruto-and-Sasuke thing. But Kaeru hadn't been able to say no when Sakura almost literally stumbled on the three boys and accepted Naruto's impromptu invitation to join them—which Kaeru suspected was more due to the fact that Sasuke hadn't protested rather than Naruto's enthusiasm. Still, maybe it was an accomplishment in and of itself, the fact that all three members of Team Seven were sitting at a restaurant together and not fighting.

Well, the fact that Keru had planted himself between Sakura and Naruto to prevent any bopping of heads probably helped with the lack of fighting. Unfortunately, the setup also forced Sasuke to take the stool next to his biggest fan. The Uchiha already looked a little peeved at Kaeru. Now, if only Kaeru could perform some kind of jutsu that would make these three become suddenly fast friends. Kaeru stifled a chuckle in his noodles; wishful thinking. He wondered if anyone else thought he was crazy with his laughing to himself.

"Yo."

Kaeru turned and mentally noted that—laughter or not—he would never be as crazy as some of the jounin of Konoha.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura recovered quickly enough to remaining the most polite of Team Seven. Sasuke barely grunted at his teacher, while Naruto was too busy slurping down his mouthful of noodles to speak properly, although his chopstick-wave could be considered a greeting. Maybe.

"Kakashi-sensei," Kaeru greeted the gray-haired man who had just entered the noodle stand. "Are we late?"

Kakashi cocked his head slightly as his eyes crinkled from a hidden grin.

"For what?" he inquired innocently.

"That was my next question," commented Kaeru with a slight frown. "I thought this was a day off."

It wasn't that unusual that a jounin-sensei would seek out his team, but Kakashi had been more of a hands-off kind of teacher in the beginning. Kaeru sometimes wondered what his sensei thought of when he looked at his team. But then Kaeru usually remembered what little he knew of what his sensei had seen _before _he ever met Team Seven and decided that he didn't want to know.

"We didn't have a meeting today," Kakashi answered Kaeru's original query. "I just wanted to make sure you reported in with Naruto in two days for our next mission."

"Really?" Naruto practically shot straight up in his seat. "Cool!"

Kaeru avoided shaking his head, but he still thought it was fun how easily the kid got riled up. Were he not so worried about appearing way too eager for a chance to be with Konoha's jinchuuriki, he'd be acting the same way. Being on the same team as the one hope he had for the future wasn't quite in his plans, but then again, Kaeru couldn't remember the last time he had a plan—much less one that had actually worked the way it was supposed to.

"Don't suppose you know what kind of mission?" Kaeru asked in a lilting voice.

"We'll probably have a D-rank again," replied the jounin, "to give you guys a chance to recover."

Kaeru nodded. It made sense, especially since he really couldn't remember any mission in particular standing out between the Wave mission and the start of the only Chuunin Exams he had ever taken. That experience was engraved pretty firmly in his mind.

"Hey, we're all healthy!" Naruto protested suddenly. "See, Kakashi-sensei! Even Sasuke-teme."

The boy jabbed a finger around the people in his way to point out his teammate, sitting with his face clean of bandages and only a scrape on his forehead to prove that he had ever been injured.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried in reprimand, probably more because of the name than Naruto's protests that his team was field-ready.

"Kakashi-sensei," Kaeru called as Sakura raised her fist. "You haven't joined us for ramen yet."

All eyes, even Sasuke's, turned their attention to the nonchalant man in the ramen stand. Kakashi slowly tapped one finger on his covered chin and tilted his head thoughtfully.

"Well, I suppose I could have one bowl."

As Kakashi took a seat on Naruto's free side, at the end of the counter, Kaeru leaned over his opposite side and whispered the magic words.

"Calm down, Sakura-chan," he murmured. "If we can get Kakashi-sensei to eat, we can see what his face looks like under his mask."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"Really?" She covered up her curiosity with a dubious frown.

_Hook_.

"This is childish," Sasuke grumbled, but a faint line of pink across his cheekbones proved that he was paying more attention to his surroundings than he wanted to admit.

_Line_.

"One bowl of miso, please," Kakashi stated to the old man behind the counter.

Naruto leaned in toward his friends conspiratorally.

"He's gonna take off his mask!" the boy whispered, excitement lacing his tones. Sasuke and Sakura both looked at Kakashi then schooled their eyes in front of them, trying desperately to look nonchalant.

_And sinker_, Kaeru thought. He didn't mind that his team was coming together over something as simple as ramen and the mysteries of their sensei's face. He couldn't even bring himself to mind that he was included in this game this time around in a time and place where Kaeru shouldn't exist. It was enough that Nartuo, Sasuke, and Sakura were finally acting like they were friends.

Although, Kaeru still couldn't keep from laughing long and hard when Iruka-sensei leaned into the ramen shop and inquired after his former students, conveniently blocking their view of Kakashi-sensei while he ate.

* * *

A/N: I wonder how many people are actually still waiting in anticipation for this chapter. Well, maybe anticipation is the wrong word.

I do not think I can offer sufficient explanation as to why this chapter took me three months to get out, but I would like to thank everyone who still wrote reviews or put my on their favorites even though I wasn't doing _anything_ with this monster of a problem. I regret that this chapter doesn't have more action for you guys; after waiting so long, one would think you deserve better. But it remains mostly a wrap-up/segue into the next arc, which—despite my best intentions—will probably be a filler.

I'm sorry. Don't blackball me, please.

Sincerely,

Fia


	18. Chapter 18

Sakura glanced over the scroll in her hands as she made her way down the street. Iruka-sensei had been glad to give his former student a thin scroll on basic medical techniques. The first thing Sakura learned was that iryo-jutsu would be slow going. The scroll didn't even cover ways to incorporate what little Sakura knew about first aid, blood-stopping pills and the like, with chakra requirements and hand seals. Instead, the first really practical exercise was how to keep a fish alive out of water by enveloping its gills in chakra. Very slow going, indeed.

"Hey, Sakura!"

Sakura stopped suddenly and scanned the streets for the one who had called her name. Unsurprisingly, her best friend—or was it rivals now?—wasn't hard to spot as she hurried to catch up with Sakura, her apron from her family's floral shop still draped over her regular clothes.

"Are you too busy to say hi, Forehead-chan?" Ino demanded.

Sakura glowered at the girl her own age.

"Hi, Ino-pig," she responded.

"I've been calling you." Ino planted her hands on her hips firmly. "What are you reading?"

Out of habit, Sakura clutched the scroll closer to her chest, determined not to let her rival get the upper hand on her. But then, it couldn't hurt to let Ino know, could it? Especially since Sakura was sure that Ino wouldn't take this as an encroachment on her.

"It's a scroll on iryo jutsu," she explained, leaving out the part about getting it from Iruka-sensei. If Ino wanted to know where Sakura had gotten new information for her future career as an amazing kunoichi, she would have to find out herself.

"Medical techniques?" Ino peered at the scroll over Sakura's shoulder. "With chakra?"

"It's something I'm studying before our next mission," Sakura replied confidently even though she was sure her next mission would be something like walking Kakashi's ninken or something equally trivial. Kakashi-sensei _had _said that they still needed time to recover.

"Like first aid and nursing?" Ino's eyes took on an interested glow that Sakura wasn't sure she liked.

"Sasuke-kun and Kaeru-kun got hurt on our last mission," Sakura explained. "I wanted to find something that would help them."

"Eh?" Ino pinned Sakura with a serious gaze. "Is Sasuke-kun still injured?"

"No." Sakura shook her head in denial. "They're both all right now. Kaeru-kun knew some first aid, and he said he heals fast."

Sakura thought she had proof of that last statement. Naruto had bounced back the fastest after their mission, while Sasuke's scrape was just fading to the point where the scab had turned into old skin. Kaeru himself had been hardest to judge, as he always kept his wounds covered and changed the bandages himself, sometimes with Naruto's help. But Naruto wouldn't say how his cousin was doing, either. Just a firm declaration that Kaeru-nii-san was strong. Although, Sakura was beginning to see that, too.

"Who's Kaeru-kun?" Ino demanded.

"He's Naruto's older cousin," replied Sakura, unthinking. "He just started living in Konoha recently, and he came with us on our mission."

At Ino's puzzled frown, Sakura felt the need to explain further.

"He looks kind of like Naruto," she explained. "But he has red hair. He's seventeen."

"Does he have blue eyes?" Ino pursed her lips together thoughtfully.

"Yes."

"I think I've seen him," announced the blonde suddenly. "He came into the shop one day to buy flowers for a memorial."

Sakura ran her teeth along her bottom lip briefly. Kaeru had never quite explained his own history, and Sakura didn't know how he had come to Konoha. But she knew that he had no family besides Naruto; Kaeru himself had said that there were no other Uzumaki anywhere. And Naruto had always been an orphan. Sakura flinched at the thought. The reprimand she had gotten from Sasuke still pricked her conscience. She _didn't _know what it was like to be alone. The closest she had ever come was when she had been crying by herself because the other girls thought her forehead was hideous.

"Is he really an okay guy?" Ino asked. "Chouji thought he acted kind of strange in the shop."

Sakura's eyes snapped over to her once-friend.

"Kaeru-kun's a good guy," she defended the older boy. "And he keeps Naruto from being too annoying."

"So, you and Sasuke-kun can have more time alone." Ino's eyes narrowed sharply. "You crafty kunoichi! I bet you're just learning medical jutsu so that you can be the one to nurse Sasuke-kun back to health when he gets injured."

"No, that's not it," Sakura immediately began to protest.

"You won't win that way, Forehead-chan," declared Yamanaka Ino. "I'll be an even better iryo-nin than you, and Sasuke won't want anyone to treat his wounds but me."

"You couldn't heal a fish!" retorted Sakura automatically. She clutched the scroll to her chest to prevent Ino from spying out any techniques, even if they _were _only for healing fish lungs.

"Watch me!" Ino stuck her tongue out at her old classmate then spun on her heel and marched back to the Yamanaka Floral Shop without waiting for a response.

Sakura scowled at Ino's back then hurried down the street once more. She was supposed to be at the Hokage Tower for her next mission with Team Seven, and once again Kaeru-kun would be accompanying them. Slowing down, Sakura glanced over her shoulder to where Ino had disappeared. Ino _did _have it wrong. Sakura hadn't really been thinking of Sasuke-kun when she asked Iruka-sensei for any information he had on iryo techniques. Oh, she had _thought _of him, but it hadn't been a picture of coming to Sasuke's rescue or falling in love with each other over a sick bed. Instead, Sakura couldn't get the image of Sasuke's cold face, decorated with long senbon, out of her head. She wanted to be able to _help_.

Sakura tucked the scroll into the small pouch that held her weapons. She could read over the scroll after her mission. Right now, she was determined not to be later than Kakashi-sensei. Naruto would never let her live that down.

* * *

Kaeru rocked back and forth on his heels as he stood in the hall outside the Hokage Office, waiting for admittance.

"Boring," Naruto sing-songed from his place next to Kaeru.

"We have to wait for Kakashi-sensei," reprimanded Sakura, although her twisting lips betrayed her own displeasure. Sasuke's glower at the closed door echoed her unspoken sentiments.

"Maybe we should just go ahead without him," Naruto suggested. "Kaeru-nii-san can be in charge."

Kaeru chuckled.

"Finally!" He grinned widely. "I've been promoted to sensei."

"Maa, maa," came a lazy voice. "No need to replace me just because I'm running a little late."

Kaeru turned his grin on his old teacher, ready to shoot back that it was Kakashi's fault that his own students were betraying him for a teenaged sensei. But Sakura beat him to it.

"A little?" she repeated in disbelief. "You said we were supposed to be here an hour ago."

"Ah, see, I got lost on the way here," Kakashi explained. "So I had to turn around and retrace my steps."

"He's lying, isn't he?" Naruto whispered loudly to Sakura. She just rolled her eyes and huffed at their reluctant sensei rather than smacking her teammate over the head.

Kaeru smiled at their antics. It was a good sign. His team was getting stronger already, and they didn't even recognize the way their bonds tied them together. Not yet.

"Well, shall we go?" Kakashi smiled innocently and waved his team towards the door.

Kaeru knocked Naruto's back as he entered the office behind Kakashi, forcing the boy to move forward or be run into. Sandaime was waiting patiently for the team behind his desk with his usual pipe clamped firmly in his mouth. Kaeru couldn't help one side of his mouth turning up at the sight of the old man, as it always did. Even if he couldn't actually tell any of his adopted family how much he missed them, he would never give up the opportunity at least to see them. Fluke or not.

"Team Seven," Sarutobi greeted the genin team. "Good job again on your last mission."

Naruto beamed at the praise.

"Yeah, we kicked ass!" he agreed jubilantly. "Whatcha got for us next, O-jiji?"

His enthusiasm was rewarded with a fist to his head courtesy of Sakura. Kaeru had about given up on erasing _that _particular habit. As long as Naruto still said whatever popped into his head, Sakura's temperament would demand reprisal.

"Team Seven will have a courier mission," announced the Hokage. "This will be your first joint mission, I believe."

"Joint mission?" questioned Sasuke.

"You mean besides me?" Kaeru jerked his thumb at his own chest.

Joint missions weren't unheard of for genin. He had gone on plenty of missions with the shinobi he had graduated with, or with their sensei if Kakashi was called away for a mission that required the Copy-nin's talents.

"Team Eleven is short one member due to an injury," explained Sarutobi. "You will be joined by their remaining two members for this mission, as their sensei has expressed a wish for them to journey outside of Konoha."

"Which one's Team Eleven?" Naruto whispered from the corner of his mouth, leaning toward his cousin.

Kaeru just shrugged and shook his head. He only remembered three teams of Naruto's class actually passing, although that was a pretty average number for each graduating class from the Academy. Eventually, team's were identified by their sensei or, sometimes, by their characteristics. People still referred to Sarutobi's old team as the _Densetsu no Sannin_.

"You will be delivering this scroll to the listed contact Hakui." Sarutobi lifted a short scroll in one hand. "Your teammates for this mission have already been told to join you at the gates of Konoha in one hour."

"_Hai_," Kakashi responded formerly as he stepped forward to take the scroll.

"Cool," Naruto declared. "Let's go!"

He led the charge back out of the office, probably planning on stuffing as much as he could into his pack and taking off as soon as possible. Sasuke shook his head as he tagged along, and Sakura followed after both boys. Kaeru turned to exit with his kind-of team but glanced over his shoulder when he didn't notice Kakashi following. The jounin stood in front of his Hokage and received a second scroll. Kaeru looked back to the door before he got caught staring and walked out calmly. Kakashi may have just been accepting the details of the mission, like the name of their contact.

Kakashi soon followed Kaeru out the door, closing it behind him, and Kaeru faced his old teacher as if nothing were amiss.

"How far is it to Hakui?" he asked.

"It should just take half a day, walking," answered Kakashi. "We won't be gone more than two days."

"I'll tell Naruto not to pack too much ramen." Kaeru nodded firmly, that decided, and trudged down the stairs.

"Don't be late," Kakashi called.

"Yeah, yeah." Kaeru just raised one hand in a lazy wave, channeling Shikamaru, and kept going. What was the point of acknowledging a command Kakashi was unlikely to follow himself?

* * *

Naruto pouted at the sight of ten different ramen cups stacked on his table.

"Kakashi-sensei said we'll only be gone for two days," commanded Kaeru-nii-san. "You can't take that much."

Naruto glared at the older boy, who was in the process of wrapping his ink palette in a worn, white cloth and tucking it into his own bag. Kaeru had instructed him to pack light, but cutting down on the ramen was taking it a bit far.

"What if something happens, and we get stuck on the way?" Naruto argued. They'd need the ramen for emergency food, if that were the case.

"Then I'll _know _that some kami has it in for me if I can't even get through a simple courier mission," muttered Kaeru.

Kaeru slid his ink and supplies into his bag and paused to study his tools.

"I'm gonna need a new brush soon," he remarked to himself.

Naruto bit his lip thoughtfully and studied his cousin. Kaeru had gotten robbed on the way to Konoha, so he didn't have much stuff. He still slept on the couch Naruto kept in the first room of the apartment that he had been in since he was six. He kept wearing the same clothes, too, or switching between shirts when one got too dirty. Just like Naruto did with his own laundry. It cost money to wash his clothes one floor down, and he didn't really like having to sit there and wait until the machine was done. Too many people came and then left as soon as they saw him, like he made the room unlivable just by being in it.

"Huh."

Kaeru's sudden exhalation, like he had found something interesting, made Naruto's head jerk up to see Kaeru holding a thin scroll in one hand while he kept his pack open with the other.

"I forgot I had this," Kaeru noted.

Naruto craned his neck wonderingly at the scroll in Kaeru's hand.

"What is it?"

Kaeru looked up at Naruto and put on his thinking face.

"Something I was working on before," he answered then tucked the scroll into his pack. "Maybe if we have time . . ."

Naruto frowned when Kaeru didn't finish his sentence. He hated being kept out of the loop.

"What?" Naruto demanded.

Kaeru's head jerked up as he smiled at his cousin.

"Maybe I can go over it on the way to Hakui."

"Can you teach me?" Naruto's eyes widened at the thought of this newly-discovered possible technique that his cousin knew.

"No," Kaeru replied immediately. "This is . . . this is something I'm still working on."

Naruto eyes Kaeru but then went back to his bag and his ramen. He supposed it was okay that Kaeru-nii-san wanted to wait to show his secret project until it was completely ready. But, Naruto was still curious.

"Will we get to do training on this mission?" he questioned.

"Maybe." Kaeru shrugged carelessly. "Depends how fast we can get to the city."

"So we can train once we get there?" Naruto confirmed.

"Sure."

Naruto grinned widely. Training with Kaeru-nii-san would definitely make up for the boring-ness of the mission, especially compared with the last one. Although, he supposed that he could live without the people-trying-to-kill-him-and-his-friends part. Kaeru flipped his pack closed and flipped it over one shoulder.

"C'mon." He motioned to Naruto. "We might as well wait for Kakashi-sensei someplace we know he'll show up."

Naruto nodded obediently as Kaeru turned away. Naruto grabbed one of the packages of ramen on the table and squished it into his bag while Kaeru's back was still turned. By the time the redhead led the way to the door, Naruto was fully prepared with enough ramen to last him at least two days, maybe three if he didn't eat all five servings for one meal. Maybe he could buy his big brother a new brush with the money they got from this mission.

* * *

"Yosh! Before our comrades arrive, I shall complete three hundred push-ups with my right hand alone!"

Hyuuga Neji had learned long ago not to pay any attention to his teammate when he got in one of _these_ kinds of moods. It was bad enough dealing with Gai-sensei regularly when he wasn't training within the Hyuuga complex. Gai, Neji knew, had the power and the strength to back up his claims. Neji had only seen the man in serious combat a handful of times, if that; but it was enough to know that the man, for all his eccentricities, was well-feared by his enemies.

Lee, however, was just crazy.

Neji returned to staring at the wide, hard-packed dirt road that led away from Konoha. It branched off in three different directions one kilometer from the village, and it was the road they were expected to take, as soon as their temporary teammates showed up. Neji did not keep track of new genin, nor did he much care to. There were few who were born for greatness, anyway.

"So if we can use the trees to get there faster, why don't we just do that?"

Neji looked in the direction of the demand, loud, harsh, and ruder than Neji generally preferred his companions to be—if he ever actively pursued companions. A group of four shinobi, one notably older and taller than the others, approached the gate with packs on their backs and enough purpose to their step to convince Neji that these were to be his teammates for the duration of the mission to Hakui.

"That wastes chakra, dobe," retorted the darkest boy. Neji suspected he knew the boy, most likely from Academy, but he couldn't remember a name.

"Actually most chuunin and jounin travel that way, when they can." The oldest one, a redhead, adjusted the pack slung over his right shoulder. "By the time you get promoted, you'll have the chakra reserves necessary for it."

The four-man team was close enough now to notice Neji and Lee, halfway through his sixty-eighth push-up. The lone kunoichi, a girl with absurdly pink hair, directed her eyes to Neji first.

"Hello," she greeted politely. "Are you our teammates for the mission to Hakui?"

Neji was prevented from answering by Lee's stupendous leap from the ground to land, somehow, _miraculously_, directly in front of the girl.

"I am Rock Lee," he announced grandly. "Will you go out with me?"

The girl's reaction was amusing; she edged away from Lee, giving the dark boy beside her a furtive glance like she expected him to do something.

"Sakura-chan?" It was the blond boy, the one who had asked about tree-traveling, who approached his teammate first.

"Your name is Sakura?" Lee confirmed, then immediately launched into his 'nice-guy' pose with a bright grin that briefly outshined the morning sun. "I will protect you with my life on this mission."

"Um, no," replied Sakura hurriedly. "That's all right. Really."

Neji had to admit that the kunoichi was handling Lee well. Tenten would have slapped him upside the head by now. Or just pinned one of his sandals to the ground with a well-aimed kunai. Before Lee could issue a self-challenge to prove his worth, Neji felt a whirlwind of chakra that announced his sensei every morning.

"My youthful students!" Maito Gai shouted in a voice that would not be denied being heard. "I have come to see you off on your next mission!"

"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried in delight.

Neji rolled his eyes dramatically before he heard a strangled noise coming from one of the new arrivals. He looked at the redhead, unsurprised that the older boy was staring at Lee and Gai with wide eyes. His throat was convulsing as if he were trying to swallow, or to hold something back. Suddenly, the redhead's gaze shifted, and Neji found himself caught in a gaze that was far too piercing to be amused.

"And these shall be your teammates while the beautiful Tenten recovers." Gai quickly turned to three shocked genin and one redhead who directed his attention back to Konoha's taijutsu master. "But where is your sensei?"

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei's always late." The blond genin waved one hand through the air as if it didn't matter.

"Can it be? The students of my esteemed rival! Such hip attitudes could only be the product of Kakashi-san!"

Neji suddenly found the new team much more interesting. Gai-sensei often mentioned his rival, Hatake Kakashi, and the state of their constant battles. At last count, Kakashi was winning by one victory. Neji only knew that Kakashi was reputed to be the opposite of Gai-sensei.

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" the blond demanded. "Hey, does he talk about me?"

"We don't even know your name," Neji felt inclined to remind the boy. "Why would he speak of you?"

The blond suddenly shot Neji a hot glare usually reserved for people who kick pets.

"Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konohagakure!" he proclaimed as he shoved his thumb into his own orange-clad chest. "_Dattebayo_."

Neji refused to believe in such a statement. This kid should never have passed his graduation exam, let alone his genin test.

"Ah, such youthful exuberance," Gai went off again. "Surely your Springtime of Youth explodes within you, Uzumaki-kun!"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows together at the man's declaration then glanced down at his stomach as if he expected his "springtime" to explode out of him at any moment.

"Ah, give him a break." The redhead shook his head toward Gai suddenly. "There's something to be said for autumn, too."

Gai looked thoroughly appalled.

"Why do you speak so, student of my esteemed rival?" He made a fist and held it like a trophy before him. "The Springtime of Youth is the most beloved season of life, filled with the passion my student so aptly contains."

"Thank you, Gai-sensei!"

Neji was pretty sure those were, indeed, tears running down Lee's cheeks.

"Yeah, but if you make it to autumn, at least you don't get cut down halfway through youth." The redhead shrugged.

Gai simply stared at the young man, silent. Neji wondered if he had actually witnessed his sensei being made speechless. He had become too used to tuning Gai out to consider the implications if one carried his sensei's favored analogy to completion.

"Oi, Nii-san." Naruto leaned toward the older boy and muttered from the corner of his mouth. "What're you talking about?"

The older Uzumaki ducked his head and broke into a sheepish grin as he raised one hand to rub at the back of his head.

"Nothing," he declared quickly. "It's nothing."

He looked up at Gai again, and his grin turned into a reassurance.

"We'll take care of your students, sensei." Uzumaki nodded once to convey the seriousness of his promise.

Gai-sensei quickly found his tongue again.

"Such a prime example of responsibility and maturity!" he cried to the heavens. "Surely your Flames of Youth burn brightly within you!"

"Gai-sensei!" Lee was quick to join him. "It will be a joy to work with such esteemed comrades as this!"

Neji glanced over his temporary teammates and doubted he could honestly affirm the sentiment. Uzumaki's quick glance back into the village proper made Neji turn his head to see a man in a jounin vest walking nonchalantly towards the gate.

"Ah, Kakashi!" Gai quickly identified the man. "My esteemed rival!"

"Yo," was all Hatake Kakashi said.

"Can we leave?" demanded the dark genin whom Neji had yet to place.

"Everyone seems to be here." Kakashi's right eye traveled lazily across the genin gathered just outside Konoha's large gates. He received a punk kind of salute from the red-haired Uzumaki for his troubles, two fingers held straight while the rest were curled into his fist.

"Lee, do well on your mission!" Gai commanded finally.

"Yosh!" Lee raised one fist as determination overtook his eyes like fire. "I will complete this mission to the best of my abilities, or I shall run one thousand laps around Konoha's walls!"

When Sakura opened her mouth with a decided frown, Neji almost thought the kunoichi was going to comment on the absurdity of his statement. But her teammates crowded in front of her in their eagerness to get on the road. The older Uzumaki set forth with a smile that was almost amused, but contained something else as well. Neji walked alongside the older ninja while Kakashi followed at the rear.

"Whaddaya wanna bet he's the first one into Hakui?" Uzumaki nodded at Lee, who was leading the way by a wide margin.

The three genin in front of him glanced back to the questioner. Neji clearly saw the frown dance across the dark-haired genin's face.

"He's crazy," the boy scoffed and turned back to the road.

"News flash, Uchiha," Uzumaki shot back. "He could beat you _and _your swirly eyes."

So, the boy had now been identified. This was the Uchiha heir. Sasuke, Neji thought his name was. He was so concentrated on the boy's name that it took his mind a moment to register the rest of Uzumaki's declaration.

Lee could beat the Sharingan?

"You don't know your own weaknesses," said Uzumaki softly, so softly that Neji doubted Uchiha Sasuke had heard the critique.

Maybe it was just as well. Uzumaki didn't exactly sound like he wanted to be heard.

* * *

Kakashi was still in the back of the party when the sun was at its peak. Kaeru and Naruto had taken up the lead, although at the moment Lee was pressing Naruto to a footrace, so Kaeru was left alone. Beside Kaeru, Sakura held a scroll in front of her, studying it with such an intensity that a part of Kakashi wondered how she could keep from tripping. Sasuke and Neji followed them, neither really saying much. Kaeru suddenly craned his neck to scan the road in front of him then glance over his shoulder at the rest of his team.

"Is something wrong, Kaeru-kun?" Kakashi asked with a bright smile while he keenly scanned their surroundings. If Kaeru felt something, it could mean trouble.

"Shouldn't Neji be . . ." Kaeru began then trailed off with a frown when he actually looked at the young Hyuuga. "Nah, never mind."

Kakashi raised one eyebrow at the young man. He was beginning to expect unexpected outbursts from Kaeru; the boy was about as unpredictable as his adopted younger brother, only for different reasons. Kaeru did things, _knew _things, that Kakashi didn't think he should have been able to. Fortunately, Sandaime seemed to realize Kaeru's strange idiosyncrasies as well and was finally ready to do something about it. Kakashi briefly wondered what Kaeru would do if he knew that this mission had been conjured _because _of him.

"Maa, you'll make us curious." Kakashi noted the way Neji perked up at the mention of his name and wondered if it had been entirely prudent of Sandaime to assign Gai's two boys to this mission as well.

Kaeru glanced over his shoulder once again and then tilted his head dramatically to one side so that he seemed to be speaking to the forest astride of the road instead of the jounin behind him.

"I thought it would be better if Neji took the lead," Kaeru confessed. "With his eyes, he could see what's coming."

"Interesting," commented Kakashi. "But we're not expecting anything unusual."

"I know." Kaeru quickly waved one hand through the air, as if to bat away unwanted words. "That's why I said 'never mind'."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully, seemingly done with the conversation. But he was still curious. He hadn't shared his own theories with Sandaime about Kaeru, nor had Sandaime postulated anything in Kakashi's presence. He only commanded the jounin-sensei to keep an eye on Kaeru during the mission and report back any unusual behavior.

"And if we were?" Kakashi asked.

Unusual behavior would be much easier to spot if Kaeru actually did something other than walk down the road with his hands in his pockets. Kaeru shot Kakashi a puzzled look over his shoulder, and Kakashi took the opportunity provided.

"If this team was assembled for a different mission," he suggested. "Say, to intercept an enemy. What formation would you use?"

Kaeru stopped dead in his tracks and spun around to face Kakashi. But there was no suspicion in the young man's eyes, only surprise.

"You're asking _me_?" He gaped for a moment.

"Why not?"

Kaeru looked around him at the team he was with. Then, with his hands still in his pockets, Kaeru started to walk backwards, facing Kakashi as he affected a thoughtful look.

"Well, there's six of us," he started slowly. "So, me and Neji'd take the front 'cuz of Neji's eyes. Naruto and Lee behind us for heavy hitting once we catch up to them. Sakura and Sasuke in the middle. And you'd be our rear."

"Indeed." Kakashi nodded. "You put a jounin at the rear of a search party?"

"I'd rather have you at my back than anyone, Kakashi."

Kaeru's smile was briefly out of place under a mess of red hair—it should have been golden. Then Kaeru spun on his heel in mid-stride and all traces of Kakashi's sensei disappeared into a teenager who still knew too much.

"Besides, I'm not really sure how Naruto and Lee would take a real mission without annoying the heck out of everyone else."

"Why don't you find out?"

Kaeru stared back at Kakashi in shock once again.

"Huh?" he questioned eloquently.

"Take the lead with Neji," Kakashi commanded. "Have the others take the formation you suggested."

"Really?" Kaeru, for some reason, was still dubious.

"It'll keep them from getting bored." Kakashi shrugged as if that were the only reason he was giving free reign to Kaeru.

"Like Naruto needs anything other than Lee to keep him busy," muttered Kaeru. But he called both Naruto and Lee back to join the rest of the group anyway.

Kakashi watched silently as Kaeru explained the drill to Naruto and Lee, speaking loud enough so that both Neji and Sasuke behind him could hear their assignments. Kakashi didn't know which was more surprising, the fact that Sasuke didn't complain at being paired with Sakura or the fact that Sakura didn't break into a blush at being paired with Sasuke. She only looked regretfully at the scroll she carried as she rolled it up and placed it back in her weapons holster. Naruto's enthusiasm for racing Lee was quickly tempered into obeying his cousin, and Neji took his position in the front. His team in formation, Kaeru looked up from the shorter kids he had been ordering around and waved cheerfully at Kakashi at the rear. Kakashi raised one hand to wave back and then shoved his hand back in his pocket when Kaeru turned his back.

He had to stop seeing only Kaeru's eyes or smile. It was coloring his view of the kid, and he couldn't afford to miss something just because he wanted to see a man who had been dead for twelve years.

* * *

Kaeru could probably say, in all honesty, that Uchiha Itachi could have appeared in the middle of the road in front of him with his fish-faced partner and Kaeru would have been less surprised than he currently was. The last thing he expected on this mission was to be put in charge.

Kakashi-sensei was up to something.

Not that the Copy-nin wasn't usually up to something; Kaeru just knew it had to do with him this time. And yet, all Kakashi was currently doing was smiling at the backs of his team and pretending that he was guarding a team on its way to intercept an enemy. Kaeru had immediately thought of the team of genin, mostly Rookies who had failed their first Chuunin Exams, that had been sent to retrieve a wayward Uchiha who had decided that he could do better with a nuke-nin than with his own home. Kaeru didn't have Akumaru or the Inuzuka nose, so he had put himself and the Hyuuga eyes at the forefront of the drive.

Of course, with Neji glaring at the road in front of him without his doujutsu activated, Kaeru was beginning to grow impatient for the exercise to be over. Naruto wasn't helping with his wavering attention.

"Do you really think this is gonna help us?" Naruto demanded. "We're not even looking for anything, like on our last mission. No one's gonna attack us—"

"Quit it, gaki," grumbled Kaeru. He should've thought out the positions better. If he was walking with Naruto instead of Neji, at least they could get in some training or even information that the boy would need in the future.

Kaeru glanced over his shoulder to see Naruto's pout. But his slumped shoulders and hands in his pockets betrayed the boy's disappointment more than resentment.

"If you figure out how to channel your chakra to the palm of your right hand, I'll teach you a jutsu," Kaeru called, facing front once again.

"Really?" Naruto straightened immediately. "Cool."

Kaeru smiled. It couldn't be Rasengan that he taught Naruto—he'd have a _hell_ of a time explaining _that _to Sandaime, much less Kakashi. But maybe the kid could learn something simpler, like Reppushou or maybe even Kazekiri, if he could concentrate long enough. Kaeru knew he had the potential, even if Kaeru turned out to be a bad teacher. Although, considering the examples he grew up with, Kaeru didn't think he could screw it up too bad.

Beside him, Neji huffed at the brotherly exchange. Kaeru tilted his head thoughtfully before deciding he might as well give himself his own distraction.

"Your eyes getting tired, Neji?" he questioned, even though he knew what the answer would be.

Neji turned his head just enough to fix Kaeru with a perturbed stare, like he was offended that Kaeru could even suggest such a thing. Silently, Neji looked back to the road in front of him.

"No," the Hyuuga finally answered.

Kaeru rolled his eyes.

"You're about as social as Uchiha back there, ya know that?" He jerked his head to indicate his once-and-future teammate.

"Please do not compare us." It wasn't a request.

"You do got some things in common, Neji." In spite of himself, Kaeru grinned. "Face it."

Kaeru had forgotten that all supposed geniuses in Konoha came with the same superiority complex. Knowing what he did about Neji, his skills _and _his protective nature toward Hinata, Kaeru found this version of Neji almost laughable. He wondered if Neji was like this with his own teammates as well. Lee had revealed, only because Lee talked as much as he did, that the beautiful and competent Tenten was back in Konoha with a fractured radius, but she was expected to heal fully in a few days.

"He is the only heir to the Sharingan in Konoha," Neji stated blandly. "I was designated to a lower position at my birth. Fate determined that he would have wings to soar."

Kaeru frowned. He had also forgotten about the cage Neji felt he was in.

"I don't buy into that crap," Kaeru shot back hotly. He never _had _believed in Fate, even when Neji had first started spouting it in the Chuunin Exams. Neji looked over to Kaeru, dubious at first before his gaze turned completely disapproving.

"Those who try to fight Fate are doomed to have their wings clipped," he declared authoritatively.

Kaeru opened his mouth, ready to reproach the kid even if he didn't know quite what he was going to say. At any rate, what did a thirteen-year-old know about fate that a seventeen-year-old-time-traveling-kid-turned-into-his-own-brother— Actually, Kaeru was pretty sure that had absolutely nothing to do with Fate. But then, Neji's eyes sharpened in a way that made the veins in his temples bulge with extra blood and chakra.

"What is it?" demanded Kaeru, because he didn't think Neji would activate his doujutsu just to avoid a conversation.

"Three shinobi are approaching from the northeast," Neji reported succinctly.

"Perfect," muttered Kaeru. He spun around to face the rest of his team. "Oi! We're gonna have some visitors."

Naruto abruptly stopped staring at the palm of his hand and looked up, while Sasuke dropped in to a defensive position with his knees bent. Kakashi removed his hands from his pockets and let his arms linger by his sides. Sakura looked wary but prepared, and Kaeru was pretty sure that Lee's trembling was only because of excitement.

Kaeru turned back to the road just in time to face a tall, dark man who burst out of the forest and landed straight on the middle of the road. He looked ready to continue running when he caught sight of the team of genin that were prepared for him. His dark eyes widened suddenly, and he froze.

"Oh, shit," the man muttered.

Kaeru frowned at him. He still looked ready, almost desperate, to bolt, but there was something else that caught Kaeru's eye. The man wore a hitai-ate from Kumo across his brow with a deep scratch embedded through the symbol.

"I was right," growled Kaeru in frustration. "_Somebody_ has it in for me."

* * *

A/N: Ha, chapter. And sooner than the previous one came out, too. Let us all marvel at the author's ability to actually _do _something.

Just kidding. Actually, for the speed of this chapter, you may thank APatchOfSunlight, who wrote me a very lengthy and edifying review back in September. It stayed in my mind as I was cranking this out. This was also my first attempt at writing Gai (either alone or with his students). As much as I love him and his pervasive exclamation marks, it's hard to keep him from repeating himself.

As for the notes: Reppushou (a.k.a., Gale Wind Palm) is a C-rank wind jutsu (used by Nagato when he was still a student of Jiraiya), while Kazekiri (Cutting Wind) is an A-rank jutsu with the same basic idea as Kaze Ken, a blade of wind meant to cut. The ANBU use it against Pein's summoned creatures during the attack on Konoha, but I figured if Rasengan is an A-rank jutsu, Naruto's pretty much qualified to learn other difficult jutsu. And Hakui is an actual city in the Ishikawa province of Japan, but I liked the name, so I stole it.

I hope to have this filler arc finished before Thanksgiving, since I'll be on vacation (and out of state).

Till then,

Fia


	19. Chapter 19

"_Somebody_ has it in for me."

Lee wasn't sure why his newfound comrade sounded so very despondent at the prospect of encountering trouble. But if Kaeru-kun didn't feel he could soundly defeat his team's enemies then Lee would just work twice as hard to prove that it could be done.

"_Yosh_!" Lee cried as he pumped his fist into the air. "A challenger!"

"A what?" Naruto questioned from beside Lee.

Lee glanced at his comrade, but Naruto seemed to be more wary than confused as he stared at the dark-skinned man on the road.

"Lee, shut up," Kaeru suddenly commanded, turning his head just enough to throw the words back to Lee. Then he looked back to the nuke-nin with a Kumo _hitai-ate_. "Who the heck are you?"

"Daichi!"

Lee shifted his feet so that he could look to the back of the party, while Naruto just spun around to face his teammates instead. Standing on the dirt road behind the final three members of Team Seven stood a young man and a woman with dark brown hair. Both wore a _hitai-ate_ with the three spikes of Kusa on them, both with a deep scratch through the village symbol. Both were missing nin as well.

"You're a Hyuuga," growled the Kumo nin, the one called Daichi.

"Oh, _hell_," Kaeru muttered.

Lee didn't have time to question Kaeru's increasing pessimism before Daichi lunged at Neji. Neji held out a hand to knock away the man's first, clumsy blow and spun on his heels, turning away from the charge. Kaeru jumped backward in the opposite direction so that Daichi ended up stumbling in between the two lead ninja.

"I shall assist you, Neji!" Lee declared. Really, he wanted to be able to use Gai-sensei's Dynamic Entry, but it wasn't really possible in this situation.

"Hold it right there, brat."

The brunette woman suddenly jumped in front of both Lee and Naruto, who looked completely unsure as to which way he was supposed to go. At least the sudden appearance of a new enemy gave him something to focus on.

"Hey, I'm not a brat, lady!" Naruto jabbed his forefinger rudely at the Kusa kunoichi.

Lee saw the woman smile with derision at his young comrade's protest. Before she could say anything, however, another voice suddenly piped up with directions.

"Naruto, work with Lee!" Kaeru shouted from the front of the combined team forces.

While he shouted at his younger cousin, as Lee understood Naruto to be to Kaeru-kun, the dark-skinned ninja in front of Kaeru and Neji raised his hand. A sudden bolt of pure white lightning shot out in a jagged dark toward Kaeru.

"_Nii-san_!" screamed Naruto.

But Kaeru had already turned back to his opponent, his hand raised with the edge of his hand flat and facing his opponent. The short lightning bolt split itself around Kaeru's hand and grazed his shoulders as the older genin divided the attack using only his hand.

"Naruto-kun," Lee called urgently. When the blond ninja faced him, Lee spoke quietly. "Kaeru-kun and Neji will be all right. We must attempt to capture this enemy kunoichi."

Naruto drew his brows together then faced the kunoichi again.

"_Ossu_," he muttered between tight lips. "What do we do?"

* * *

Yuusuke was not happy with the way things were going. He and his mismatched team had completed their reconnaissance and had been in the process of escaping. Until Daichi had stumbled on a Konoha team walking down the road. Given the average age of the members of said team, Yuusuke pegged them as genin. But they had at least two older ninja, and Yuusuke already recognized the gray-haired man.

"Sakura, behind Sasuke," ordered Copy-nin Hatake.

Yuusuke passed his eyes over the two kids beside Hatake Kakashi. They were kids, likely his students, although Yuusuke hadn't heard anything about Hatake taking students.

The boy, Sasuke, pulled out a spool of sharp wire as the girl shifted to stand at his back, watching intently. She had a kunai drawn, but she didn't look much like a threat. Then again, none of the kids really looked much like a threat. The dark boy threaded his wire into three shiruken and began his target practice using Yuusuke as a base.

Yuusuke jerked away and batted away one of the weapons so that it fell into the hard ground of the road. He probably could have caught it and sent it back to the kid, just to show how off his power was, but there was still the danger of the kid using the wire he had pulled out to retrieve his weapons, which would slice his hand quite effectively if he managed to grab one of the stars. Hatake ran through a series of hand signs and slammed his palms down onto the ground. Yuusuke braced himself for a jump, recognizing the combination most often used for _doton_ jutsu but nothing else.

"_Moguragakure no Jutsu_," Hatake muttered before his body sank into the ground and out of sight.

Yuusuke glared at the spot the jounin had disappeared. His chakra sensing abilities weren't quite standard for a jounin, not that he measured himself by his old village's standards anymore. But that didn't repudiate the fact that Yumi would probably be able to tell where the Hatake was when Yuusuke didn't. But Yumi was busy facing off two kids of her own. Yuusuke had to admit, even in a glance he could tell that both the green-clad kid and the orange one were strong in taijutsu. They weren't letting up on Yumi, even when she sent a barrage of poison-soaked senbon at them. He couldn't demand her attention now. Yuusuke settled for facing the boy and girl Hatake had left behind.

"Does your _sensei_ always leave his little kiddies to fight his battles?" he sneered.

Surprisingly, the boy only scoffed.

"All the time," he replied in an annoyed tone.

Yuusuke didn't have time to contemplate what that could mean before the boy and the girl behind him both charged. The girl made a clumsy stab with her kunai before the dark-haired boy even reached her. Yuusuke grabbed the girl's wrist and nearly lifted her off the ground. It was an easy enough task, considering how small and light the girl was. He threw her back towards Yumi; maybe his partner would be kind enough to deal with another kid for him.

The boy was a little more slippery. He avoided Yuusuke's attempt to grab him and simply toss him aside like he had the girl. Yuusuke withdrew a double bladed kunai, with a second knife-like blade where Konoha's had a loop on the end of their kunai. When the boy charged again, Yuusuke met the Konoha kunai with his own blade and leered in the kid's face.

"Jumping in without knowing your opponent?" Yuusuke taunted. "That kinda hotheaded behavior'll get ya killed, kid."

Yuusuke had been reprimanded himself for that kind of behavior, so it stood to reason that he knew what he was talking about.

"Naruto!"

Yuusuke heard the girl call for one of her teammates and glanced up, ready in case she had decided to join the fight again. But instead the girl was looking at the two genin fighting Yumi. The pink-haired girl held the kid's old shiruken in one hand, the one still attached to a thin line of wire. She must have picked it up from the ground when Yuusuke had tossed her aside. The girl flicked the shiruken in Yumi's direction. The bright boy in _bright_ orange clothes reached out and snatched the weapon from the air.

"Got it!" the boy crowed triumphantly.

Even genin could get people hurt, Yuusuke knew. Maybe it would be best to finish this quickly. He turned his attention back to the dark boy in front of him just in time to see the kid pull out a _fuuma_ shiruken. The kid heaved it through the air, but Yuusuke quickly ducked the wide arc of the blades. The shiruken sailed over his head, slicing through the air with a _swish_. Yuusuke straightened and smiled at the genin.

"You missed," he announced.

The kid smirked back.

"Who said I was aiming for you?"

Yuusuke nearly cracked his neck looking over his shoulder so fast. Hatake was no less than three meters behind him, buried in the ground up to his waist with both his eyes uncovered. He held the kid's shiruken in one hand, and with the other, he reached in front of the windmill blades and grasped the wire Yuusuke hadn't seen before. Yuusuke followed the line of the wire past him to where Yumi had gotten tangled thanks to the shiruken that blasted orange kid had caught. The orange kid grinned widely and threw the shiruken in his hand back at Yuusuke.

"Heads!" the boy in orange cried.

Yuusuke raised his kunai again, more from habit than any kind of plan. He saw the current of white _Raiton_ chakra a second before the metal in his hand collided with the shiruken on a wire. Every cell in Yuusuke's body burned as he knocked the weapon away and looked back at Hatake. Then he kicked himself backwards and sideways in his head. How could he have forgotten that, underneath all his repertoire of stolen jutsu, Hatake was the son of Konoha's White Fang. His natural element was Lightning.

Still holding his double-bladed kunai, Yuusuke stretched his free hand to the side and grasped the electric wire. He ignored the burning that sang through his body and cut through the wire with a swift hack. To his right, he heard Yumi groan and slump to the ground. It was enough.

Yuusuke flung his kunai toward the kid in orange. The kid and his friend in green both jumped backwards, away from where Yumi had fallen to her knees. Yuusuke bent down and wrapped his arm around Yumi's shoulders.

"I'm all right," she gritted out between her teeth.

Yuusuke choose neither to respond nor to release his grip on her.

"Daichi, we're leaving!" Yuusuke called urgently.

He didn't trust Daichi to obey orders like Yumi did. Yuusuke and Yumi had a history together. They had left Kusa together after a bad mission and had been making their way through the world ever since. They had only taken on Daichi because they needed another hand for their current job. It didn't mean that Yuusuke trusted the Kumo-nin.

Yuusuke leaped backwards and landed on a sturdy branch away from the beaten path, Yumi tucked into his side. Hatake followed their escape with one of his eyes red and spinning while the four kids stared up at the two Kumo-nin impetuously. Yuusuke was slightly distracted by the fact that Daichi apparently didn't want to leave yet.

"Daichi!" Yuusuke shouted again.

The dark-skinned ninja scowled in Yuusuke's direction then turned back to his fight against the two Konoha shinobi. Suddenly, Daichi released a senbon with a flick of his wrist.

"Hey!" protested the redhead.

Yuusuke wasn't sure yet what part the redhead played in the Konoha progression. He was obviously older than any of the others, except for Hatake. And he was a good fighter from what Yuusuke had seen of Daichi's battle.

As the redhead charged the dark ninja again, Daichi suddenly decided it was in his best interest to leave. The Kumo ninja jumped from the road, letting nearly a hundred senbon loose at the pair of Konoha ninja as he flew backwards. Daichi's interest in senbon was a little unusual for a Kumo-nin; Yuusuke knew Kumo preferred to teach their ninja _kenjutsu_. But the senbon all headed for the younger ninja, the one with long dark hair down his back.

"Neji!" the redhead exclaimed loudly.

The older redhead lunged for his companion, but then stopped short of helping the younger boy. Yuusuke frowned for a moment before the dark-haired boy crouched into a low stance with one hand extended in front of him, palm facing up. Then, just as the senbon approached the two boys, the dark-haired one began to spin around in one place. Yuusuke saw a visible wall of chakra surround the boy in a sphere. The redhead lifted his arms in front of his face to protect himself from the senbon that deflected off the sphere of chakra that surrounded the boy.

Yuusuke wasn't an expert on bloodlines and secret jutus, but he had lived through the Third Great Shinobi War, and remembered Konoha's strongest fighters. He had seen a ninja once who could do the same things as this boy could: form a solid defense around himself. The boy was a Hyuuga.

The redhead beside the boy lowered his arms again. Several wooden needles were embedded in the young man's skin, sticking out like hedgehog spines. The redhead looked up at the retreating team without hatred in his eyes, only something resembling annoyance that his enemies were getting away. Then he noticed the redhead's eyes were crimson. He hadn't expected that color on a redhead. In fact, hadn't the boy's eyes been blue when Yuusuke studied him before?

Daichi landed on a branch next to Yumi and wordlessly took off deeper into the forest.

"Next time I signal a retreat, I mean immediately," Yuusuke hissed in a low tone as he followed the Kumo-nin.

"We're retreating from a bunch of genin," replied Daichi sullenly.

Yuusuke neglected to remind him of Sharingan Kakashi's presence. And there was something about that redheaded boy that Yuusuke didn't trust.

"They are not part of our goal," Yumi reminded them both.

"She's right." Yuusuke glanced at Daichi to be sure he was actually retreating. "We should stay focused on our mission."

Yuusuke concentrated on the scenery before him and tried to put crimson eyes with animalistic pupils out of his mind.

* * *

Kaeru swallowed back the fire in his gut and willed it to stay there. He turned to the boy beside him, who looked none the worse for wear after performing his key move.

"Neji, you okay?" Kaeru asked, just to confirm.

"Fine," the Hyuuga replied shortly.

Kaeru rolled his eyes. Of course Neji was fine. His damn pride wouldn't allow him to be anything else. Kaeru glanced down at his arms and yanked one of the senbon out of his arm. He hadn't been this poked since the first time he had met Haku. As he glanced down at the bloody needle, the skin on his arm started to knit itself back together. Just more proof that the chakra he kept chain up was closer to the surface than he liked.

"Neji!" Lee cried. "What was that magnificent new jutsu you have mastered?"

Kaeru already knew the answer, but he was curious as to how Neji would answer, if he deigned to answer at all. Neji brushed off his shirt, flicking away specks of dirt that presumably only _his_ eyes could see.

"My family jutsu, _Kaiten_," he answered.

"Your uncle has agreed to train you?" demanded Lee eagerly. He looked sincerely ecstatic for his teammate.

But Neji's eyes remained on his shirt as his jaw clenched together harshly. Kaeru took that small gesture as a negative. Hiashi was still blind.

"You don't have to use _Kaiten_ if you have allies around," Kaeru blurted.

Neji frowned at the redhead.

"I handled it."

Kaeru frowned back, ignoring the way Lee's eyes darted from his teammate to his newest acquaintance. He was too busy glaring at the Hyuuga genuis. This was even worse than trying to get Sasuke-teme to accept help in training.

"Yeah. Don't tell me, you saw it coming from fifty meters away, right?" Kaeru scoffed. "Who are you trying to prove wrong, Neji? Me or your own family?"

"What?" The way Neji's milky pale eyes widened was probably a clue that Kaeru was pushing too hard, but he didn't pay attention to it.

Kaeru knewthis boy could be great, _would _be great. Neji was probably the strongest to come out of the Hyuuga clan since Hiashi himself had fought in the Third Great Shinobi War. Of course, Kaeru had only heard that from the older clan members since neither Neji nor Hinata had talked about it much after they had fled Konoha. But, Neji was _strong_. He just wasn't that strong now.

"Don't start ranting to me about Fate, Neji," Kaeru commanded firmly. "Not when I know how hard you're working to change it. If you didn't care about your position, you wouldn't have bothered to learn Kaiten on your own."

Neji just stared, like he couldn't find the necessary composure back to glower at Kaeru.

"Kaeru-kun!" a startled voice called urgently.

Kaeru nearly flinched as he turned away from Neji and looked over Lee's head to the other half of his team. Sakura had one hand raised to cup her mouth as she shouted, and Naruto was waving urgently.

"You guys okay back there?" Kaeru shouted louder than necessary.

Kakashi was overseeing the three members of Team Seven, still in their defensive positions from fighting against the Kiri kunoichi. They looked like a team, even without his presence.

"Yeah, Kaeru-_nii-san_!" Naruto called back proudly.

Kakashi scanned the edge of the forest where the rogue team had disappeared. Kaeru followed his eyes briefly, but he doubted he'd find anything. That group seemed eager to leave, and Kaeru's team had no obligation to chase after random missing nin. Kaeru slowly trouped toward the original Team Seven. Neji wasn't talking to him, anyway.

"We're not going after them?" Sasuke demanded.

"Some hunter nin will probably be after them," answered Kakashi.

"A real one this time?" Naruto asked, half in doubt and half actually curious.

Kaeru just scoffed and pulled out another senbon.

"Yeah, probably a real one this time, gaki," he answered.

Kaeru looked up at Kakashi, half-ready for a reprimand, as he continued to remove the needles from his arms. Then, he caught a glimpse of Kakashi's eye, crinkled at the corner the way he did when he was smiling beneath his mask. Kaeru dropped the last of the enemy senbon as his gaze turned suspicious and narrow.

"Did you know they were coming?" Kaeru demanded.

It would be within Kakashi's power—and even his desire—to sense the mismatched team of shinobi coming and decide to use it as a test for Kaeru, if he were still suspicious about the redhead. Kaeru knew Kakashi didn't quite believe in Kaeru's sudden, miraculous appearance for the sake of Konoha's single jinchuuriki, but Kakashi would never put his students in danger, even over someone who could be a spy.

"Maa, maa." Kakashi waved one hand through the air by his head. "I didn't know until Neji saw them. But you did well with the unexpected surprise, Kaeru-kun. Would you like to try again?"

"Oh, no." Kaeru crossed his arms in front of his emphatically. "_You _be in charge, Kakashi-sensei. I wanna walk with Naruto."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed enthusiastically.

Kakashi shrugged as if it didn't make any difference to him. Naruto was happy to fall in beside his cousin as Kakashi stepped forward to take point in between Neji and Lee. Kaeru didn't look ahead to meet either of their gazes. He had had enough of stuck-up geniuses and trying to change people when he wasn't quite sure what had inspired the change in the first place. Maybe he should have offered to walk with Sasuke, but he wasn't sure what to say to _that _genius, either. Naruto was the easiest. The most familiar. Kaeru _knew _how Naruto would respond to teaching or challenges, and he had a better idea of what Naruto would need in future years than anyone else.

"Are you all right, _nii-san_?" demanded Naruto.

Kaeru shifted his gaze to his would-be cousin and forced himself to smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Even your arms?" Naruto asked with a pointed stare at the long sleeves that hid Kaeru's seals.

Kaeru followed Naruto's stare down to his arms. His arms weren't in any danger, that he knew. The wounds weren't large enough to disrupt the seals, and they were already healing, so he wouldn't lose much blood. But no one else knew that. Kaeru looked up to where Kakashi was staring back at the rear of his party expectantly.

"Go on ahead," Kaeru said abruptly. "Naruto's going to help me with my wounds."

"Do you need first aid, Kaeru-kun?" demanded Sakura eagerly. She took a step forward as if she were about to pounce on Kaeru if he indicated even the slightest need for a bandage.

"It's all right, Sakura-chan." Kaeru waved at her, or tried to. His nerves still tingled even if the wounds themselves were pretty much closed. At the girl's disbelieving look, Kaeru smiled instead. "It's fine. Naruto should learn this anyway. We'll catch up."

"Very well," was all Kakashi said. "We'll be sure to walk slow."

The jounin turned and led the way down the road again. For a moment, Kaeru wondered if it was a trick, and Kakashi was just pretending to leave them alone. But his mind was too busy focused on hurrying to get the job done. Kaeru knelt in the middle of the road and slipped the pack off his back.

"I need my bandages," he instructed Naruto.

"Are you hurt?" Naruto immediately began digging through the messy pack and pulled out a roll of cloth bandages.

"Not really."

Kaeru pushed his sleeves to bunch up above his elbows and held out his arms to prove it to Naruto. All that was left of the senbon wounds was a circle of pink skin where each needle had punctured his arm. Naruto stared at Kaeru's arms, his eyes following the designs of the inked seals.

"Tie the bandages around my arm so it covers all the skin." Kaeru held out his left arm, palm upturned, to Naruto.

"But you're not hurt," Naruto protested, glancing up at his cousin.

"Kakashi-sensei doesn't know that," Kaeru said hurriedly. "He would be surprised if I didn't need bandages."

Naruto just shook his head and made no move to aid Kaeru's deception.

"I don't get it. You told Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme that it was a bloodline we shared, the fast-healing-thing."

"I lied," blurted Kaeru.

Naruto's eyes shot up to meet Kaeru's blue gaze. Kaeru grit his teeth against a sigh.

"I told Sakura and Sasuke that it was a bloodline because they don't know anything about Kyuubi," he explained. "But it's the _youki_ that lets both of us heal so fast. The demon doesn't want us to die."

Naruto swallowed hard and lowered his eyes to the dirt beneath both of their feet.

"So, you _are_ like me?"

Kaeru nearly bit his own tongue and wondered just how good he would be able to lie to a pint-sized version of what he had been, or maybe could have been.

"Not exactly," Kaeru sighed. "Listen, there are nine different _bijuu_, tailed beasts with different numbers of tails. Ichibi to Kyuubi. When a _bijuu_ is sealed within a human being, the human is called a _jinchuuriki_."

"_Jinchuuriki_," Naruto repeated, as if committing the term to memory.

"It means 'power of human sacrifice.'"

Kaeru had always thought the term was far too appropriate for a host of a tailed beast. Not only was the host forced to sacrifice any chance of living like a normal human, someone had to die to seal a _bijuu_. Naruto's gaze rose again to Kaeru's.

"You're not a . . . a _jinchuuriki_?" he asked desperately.

Kaeru shook his head a little desperately.

"There's only nine," the older boy answered honestly. "And seals don't always have to hold back tailed beasts. _Youki_ can be sealed, too. I've seen people with evil power sealed into just one part of their body."

There had been that kid with the freaky-looking hand, and a dozen experiments of both Orochimaru's and Danzo's that probably qualified. Kaeru's stomach twisted guiltily at the thought of deliberately misleading the kid before him, but he didn't want anyone to know his secret, not even Naruto.

"The seals are fine, gaki," he reassured Naruto. "But Kakashi knows that you heal so fast because of Kyuubi. He doesn't know about _me_."

Understanding seemed to creep into Naruto's eyes as they took on a steadfast, determined look. Naruto nodded once and then unfurled the bandage.

"_Yosh_," he murmured over Kaeru's left arm.

"Let's hurry and catch up with the others soon." Kaeru held still and let the kid work as carefully as he dared.

He hoped the others wouldn't get too far ahead, but Kakashi wouldn't let that happen. Kaeru was still a bit nervous about what Kakashi thought of the attack and the result. The missing nin team probably wasn't a danger to Kaeru and his team considering how fast they wanted to get away from a bunch of genin. Although, Kaeru thought with a mental sigh as Naruto progressed to his right arm, knowing his luck, he'd probably get roped into whatever mission the missing shinobi had despite his best intentions.

* * *

Hakui was a fairly large town. Not as large as Konoha itself, but it was bigger than Tazuna's little town in Wave, and those were the only two cities that Naruto could compare his current setting with. But some things were familiar, too. The way people tried to avoid bumping each other as they walked down the street and the way neighbors called out to friends were all things that Naruto recognized.

Kakashi led the joined team down the middle of the street nonchalantly. Naruto and Kaeru had ended up at the back of the pack. Stupid Sasuke was walking on Kaeru-nii's other side because he claimed if he spent anymore time walking by either Sakura-chan or Lee, the guy with the crazy eyebrows, he would go insane. Kaeru had just laughed and let Sasuke walk along without saying anything.

Naruto stopped his chakra-channeling exercise as soon as they entered the city. Too many distractions, anyway. Kaeru was looking all over the village, too, but it wasn't quite the same as Naruto's looks, he noticed. Kaeru barely turned his head while his eyes darted around, looking at the people, the buildings, and the other Konoha shinobi in front of them. Then, Kaeru's eyes slid over to look at Naruto.

"Hey, how do you do that eye thing, Kaeru-_nii_?" Naruto demanded now that he had Kaeru's attention.

"What eye thing?" Kaeru suddenly jerked, as if Naruto had hit him. The older boy raised a hand to his face and turned it over to study both the palm and his fingers. Then he looked down at his body and frowned.

"That shifty eye thing." Naruto quickly squinted his eyes almost shut and glared at Sasuke from the corner of his eye just to prove he knew the bastard was listening. "Like that."

Kaeru let out a huff of air in a scoff that was almost a chuckle.

"Not quite like that," he drawled. "You look like you're trying to creep someone out."

"Like that would work on anyone," Sasuke commented from Kaeru's other side.

Naruto leaned forward suddenly and flipped up his middle finger at Sasuke. Then, a hand rested on the top of his head and pulled him back.

"Still gotta work on your eyes, gaki." Kaeru ruffled Naruto's hair a bit and kept facing forward.

Sasuke leaned forward to look around Kaeru and lifted his eyebrows at Naruto in a smug gaze. Naruto's lips wrinkled into sneer of his own.

"I can see you, y'know," commented Kaeru blandly.

Naruto just turned his face up to his cousin and stuck out his tongue. Instead of reprimanding him—or laughing like Naruto expected—Kaeru drew a deep breath into his lungs through his teeth. Then he laced his fingers together and rested his hands on top of his head. He looked tired.

"Ah, here we are," Kakashi-sensei suddenly announced.

Naruto looked up at the building Kakashi-sensei had pointed out. It was a small, wooden store, like the bookstore in Konoha that Naruto passed by sometimes. Kakashi entered the door easily as Neji and Lee followed behind. Naruto hopped up the _engawa_ and poked his head into the door before Kaeru gave him a nudge with his foot.

"Get in already," Kaeru commanded.

Naruto craned his neck to look up and over his shoulder at the older boy. He squinted his eyes shut to glare again, happy when Kaeru-nii actually stuck his tongue out back at the kid instead of just looking tired.

Inside, the shop really did look like a bookstore—or, at least, it looked like how Naruto imagined a bookstore would look. He had never been in one to know firsthand. The walls were lined with shelves filled with books, along with some freestanding bookshelves placed randomly in the middle of the floor. A man with dark hair, graying at the temples, sat at a plain wooden table. He wore a thin pair of spectacles balanced on his nose as he hunched over his table, peering at a collection of papers in his hands. At the sound of footsteps over his wooden floor, the man looked up and squinted at his new guests.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Kakashi stepped forward and withdrew the mission scroll from his pocket.

"We're just making a delivery from the Hokage to Kusunoki Akira-san," answered the jounin.

"That would be me." The middle-aged man pressed his palms flat on his desk and pushed himself to his feet with a creak of his joints.

"Ah." Kakashi's eye crinkled the way it always did when the man smiled beneath his mask. "This is for you, then."

Kakashi held out a small scroll to the man, Akira-san, and Akira took it easily, adjusting his glasses to study the scroll. Naruto bounced on his heels a bit and waited for the older man to finish reading over the scroll so they could go and Naruto could start on his training again. He heard a chortle from beside him and looked up quickly. Kaeru was ducking his head so that his chin was tucked into his chest as his shoulders shook with silent laughter. Naruto frowned and poked the older boy in his side.

"_Oi_, what's so funny?" he demanded.

Kaeru just grinned and pointed at Neji, who was standing in front of a short bookcase in one corner that was filled with books bound in orange covers.

"Hey, isn't that Kakashi-sensei's perverted book?" Naruto asked loudly.

Neji jumped from his perusal of the bookshelf with an evident blush on his face. Kaeru clapped one hand over his mouth and muffled loud chuckles from the rest of his team. Neji glared at both Naruto and Kaeru, but the effect was somewhat diminished by the line of pink across the bridge of his nose, staining his otherwise pale skin.

"Baka," hissed Sakura-chan.

Naruto raised his shoulders in an instinctively protective gesture. Sakura-chan could get violent when she got mad.

"All right," Kakashi announced suddenly. "We're done here."

Naruto looked up in surprise. That didn't take very much time at all.

"Are we leaving for Konoha right away?" Kaeru asked from behind Naruto.

Naruto wondered if Kaeru-_nii_ wanted to get back home. He knew there was nothing wrong with Kaeru's arms, and even his seals seemed whole and not in need of any painting over. But maybe Kaeru just didn't want to show his seals off where others could see them. Maybe he was waiting until they got back home to uncover his arms again. Kakashi looked at Kaeru and shook his head slowly.

"The Hokage isn't expecting us back until tomorrow," Kakashi-sensei explained. "We'll stay at an inn here for tonight."

Naruto saw his older cousin frown, but then Kaeru nodded easily and shrugged. Naruto studied Kaeru as the team walked out of the bookstore, but Kaeru didn't look like he was nervous or afraid. Naruto decided he would keep an eye on Kaeru and make sure he was okay.

* * *

Kakashi found it easy to book two rooms for the night at the inn in Hakui. The innkeeper was happy to be considered helpful to shinobi of Konoha, and Kakashi felt he only needed two rooms for the two genin teams. Sakura had spent enough time camping and training with her teammates that it wouldn't be too awkward for her to share a room with Naruto and Sasuke. Neji and Lee had been teammates for over a year and would be fine on their own. Kakashi was seriously considering bunking with his own team and sending Kaeru to sleep with Gai's boys, but he was more interesting in keeping an eye on the Uzumaki boys.

Naruto had been keeping close to Kaeru since the attack on the road. Closer than usual. Kakashi knew that the boy had attached himself to his supposed cousin with the tenacity he showed in everything, but Kakashi suspected this new closeness had something to do with the attack. Naruto was acting almost protective of Kaeru.

"Ninja-san!"

Kakashi turned toward the insistent voice even as his senses picked up the presence of a civilian running toward his team. He noticed that Kaeru had already turned around so that his back was to the reception desk and he faced the man hurrying toward the conglomerated team. The man was fairly corpulent and stumbled into the inn, panting. His finely made _haori_ made Kakashi guess that he was an official of some kind in Hakui. The man seemed to regain his breath quickly and straightened once again, looking at Kakashi.

"Are you the team of ninja that I requested from Konoha?" he demanded.

"We are here on a courier mission," was all Kakashi said in response.

He hadn't heard anything about a mission to Hakui besides the one Hokage-sama had given him. And that mission was specifically for the Hokage, not some _machi-bugyo_ who had no connection with Konoha except as a client.

"But I requested a team from Konoha to protect my home!" protested the magistrate. "I guard a very special treasure in my home until the damiyo can send his samurai to retrieve the jewel.

"Jewel?" interjected Sakura curiously.

Kakashi glanced at the lone kunoichi in their party and wondered if he should have taken the time to lecture her on how being a ninja was decidedly _not_ a romantic profession.

"It is a jewel that is able to channel chakra," said the _machi-bugyo_ excitedly. "Much like the weapons that you ninja use."

Whatever romantic ideas Sakura might have had seemed to diminish when she was lumped into a group of "you ninja" by the man. She scowled at him before lowering her head so that her hair hid most of her face from view. At least she knew not to insult the man too badly.

"When did you submit this request to Konoha?" Kakashi asked.

"Yesterday."

"We have only just departed from Konoha this morning," Kakashi deadpanned.

The magistrate clapped his hands together excitedly.

"What wonderful promptness!"

Kakashi heard a snort to one side and glanced at Kaeru. Unlike Sakura, Kaeru didn't even bother hiding the skeptical look on his face. As a result, Naruto had already started sneering at the large man, and Sasuke looked at the man as if he was just barely restraining himself from rolling his eyes at the magistrate's stupidity. The magistrate, meanwhile, seemed completely oblivious to this as he waved one hand back to the door of the inn.

"Come, I will escort you to my home," he announced.

Kakashi held up one hand to forestall any more of the man's plans.

"We are not here to—"

"But you must help me!" cried the magistrate. His expression had morphed from jubilation to desperation in the space of five words. "I have already had bandits attack my guards."

"If you have guards, why bother to call for a team of shinobi?" challenged Sasuke.

"My guards are not trained to deal with nuke-nin," the magistrate snapped back, apparently annoyed at being forced to answer to a child.

"The bandits are missing nin?"

Kakashi actually turned his head to look at Kaeru. The skepticism had fallen from his face, andn his eyes had grown wide with worry as he questioned the magistrate.

"Yes, a pair from Kusa and one strange one from Kumo," answered the magistrate.

Well, that was interesting. Kakashi didn't want to assume that the three nuke-nin they had met on the road outside Hakui were the same as the magistrate's hated bandits. Kaeru, on the other hand, seemed free to assume.

"Figures," the young man muttered so low Kakashi doubted even Naruto heard his cousin. "Just figures. I should start begging Inari for a break."

Deciding that now was not the best time or place to question why Kaeru thought he was cursed by the deity of foxes, Kakashi turned back to the magistrate.

"We are sorry," he said firmly, "but our mission does not include guard duty. The Hokage will review your request and send a team later."

For a moment, Kakashi thought the magistrate would argue further, but then the man sighed and tapped the top of his head with his palm.

"Well, at least let me offer you a place to stay for the night," the man offered. "You are all welcome to rest at my home. That way you won't have to pay for the inn."

Kakashi saw the young woman behind the reception desk scowl at the magistrate. He already knew that the magistrate was trying to get some free help out of Kakashi's team. By using the incentive of a free night's stay, the magistrate was hoping that having ninja in his house would deter any bandits, nuke-nin or otherwise. And he wouldn't have to pay for any mission fee if he was just offering hospitality. Kakashi glanced over at Kaeru to gauge the young man's reaction. Kaeru was back to shooting a dubious look at the magistrate.

"Kaeru-kun?"

Kaeru's eyes snapped to Kakashi suspiciously. Then, Kaeru lifted both hands in a mockery of surrender and shrugged his shoulders deliberately.

"Not in charge anymore, Kakashi-sensei," he reminded the jounin. "You pick."

Kakashi was hoping for a little more insight than that. He had only heard the beginnings of Kaeru's conversation with Naruto on the road, but it was enough to know that Kaeru knew more about demons and hosts than what Sandaime had merely told him concerning _Kyuubi_.

"Hey," Naruto suddenly called. "We should go with the guy."

Kakashi shifted his one-eyed gaze to the young, enthusiastic blond while the magistrate smiled widely. However, Naruto was far from his usual enthusiastic self. His eyes glanced worriedly from the magistrate to Kaeru.

"We can stay in his house tonight and save money, right?" Naruto asked—to his cousin more than anyone—with a tone of a student hoping he had gotten an answer correct.

Kakashi waited for Kaeru's response, but the redhead only stared at Kakashi expectantly. Apparently, Kaeru had used up all his potential for leadership skills on the road outside Hakui. Meanwhile, the rest of the kids were staring at Kakashi expectantly while the elderly man stood still wringing his hands together. Kakashi sighed.

"Fine. We'll accept your offer."

Naruto was right about one thing: it wasn't a bad idea to save some money. War wasn't necessarily good for a village's coffers, but neither was peace. With no one to fight, the village got less missions and thus less funds. The Hokage wouldn't mind if they saved the cost of an inn on this trip.

And if Kakashi could find out how much Kaeru knew about _bijuu_ and how the hell he knew it, so much the better.

* * *

A/N: How many of you are shocked and surprised to see me again? Yeah, so am I.

I should preface by saying that I am not sure when the next chapter of this will be coming out. Probably not on a regular basis, sorry. I'm still concentrating on my other work.

Um, as for terms you should know or might not know: Moguragakure no Jutsu is an Earth jutsu that allows the user to burrow into the ground like a mole. The engawa of a building is the wooden porch that wraps around it, very traditional Japanese architecture. And a _machi-bugyo_ was a real position in Japanese towns and cities that was a combination of a sheriff, a taxman, and a magistrate who reported to the _daimyo._

_Have fun with the chapter until I see you again (if it helps, I do have this story planned out through this arc and into the Chuunin Exams, I just need to find time to write it)._

_Sincerely,_

_Fia_


	20. Chapter 20

"You're on first watch," Yuusuke commanded abruptly as the Kumo nin sank to the ground in the dimness of twilight.

Daichi shot a glare at Yuusuke, the self-proclaimed leader for the mission, but he didn't reply. He was still stewing over the retreat.

That _boy _had been a Hyuuga.

"The ninja are staying with the magistrate now," Daichi announced in a sullen voice.

With Yumi already sleeping off the effects of being electrocuted and Yuusuke fussing over his female companion, Daichi had been the one to scout out the town for the next possible attack. All the while he had obeyed Yuusuke's infuriating command not to attack the Konoha ninja or draw attention to himself in any way. The people of Hakui were pathetic anyway; they never once sensed his presence. And he had stayed far enough away from the party of baby ninja that not even the teacher had detected his presence. But he had seen the team walk away with the magistrate toward his house where Yuusuke's goal remained.

Yuusuke frowned at the news.

"Stealing the jewel will be more difficult now," he murmured.

"They are baby ninja," scoffed Daichi. "We should have finished them off on the road."

Yuusuke's gaze snapped to Daichi.

"We're not looking to shed more blood than we have to," he said firmly. "Killing five genin would attract Konoha's attention, and we don't need that."

Daichi snorted loudly through his nose. Konoha could go rot for all he cared. Yuusuke was too timid.

"We'll observe them for a while before we decide what to do."

Yuusuke touched Yumi's forehead as he spoke. Daichi didn't think the two shinobi were lovers. There wasn't enough closeness or enough tension to indicate that. But they shared a bond; that much was obvious, even to Daichi. In some quiet part of his mind that had not spoken aloud in some years, Daichi could admit that he knew what it was like to exercise caution simply for the sake of one person's safety. But he no longer had that bond. It had been severed.

And that Hyuuga boy was the cause.

Daichi shifted in the quiet night as Yuusuke sat next to his comrade to rest. Daichi could appreciate Yuusuke's bond, but Yuusuke would never be able to understand Daichi's loss. The most Daichi could hope for was that the Hyuuga would feel the same pain as he did. If he had to abandon Yuusuke's goal to meet his own of revenge, Daichi would do so without hesitation.

* * *

The mansion of the magistrate was on the western edge of town, surrounded by a large wall made out of planks of wood, smoothed down by endless hours of toil. The building itself was decorated with curved points on the roof, and the _taimansho_ was larger than the interior of the bookstore in town. It was the kind of place built to show off one's wealth.

It was the kind of place that reminded Sasuke a bit of the buildings once located in the Uchiha Complex in Konoha.

Sasuke kept his head forward as he walked through the gardens of the mansion. He was not interested in being here or in guarding the old man's treasure—whatever it was. Kakashi was being a pushover, letting Kaeru call so many shots on this mission. Sasuke didn't even know why Kakashi wanted Kaeru to be in charge so much. Kaeru himself had said that he was only a genin, and Kakashi was a jounin. Granted, Kaeru knew some things that Sasuke didn't, but that was only because he was older.

Then again, hadn't Kaeru said that he recognized Sasuke's eyes?

Sasuke kicked at a loose stone in his path. It had been one of the first things Uzumaki Kaeru had said to him, that line about Sasuke's eyes, and it still bothered Sasuke. He hadn't had his Sharingan unveiled at the time. He hadn't even _awoken_ his Sharingan. So, why did Kaeru comment on his eyes?

A voice ahead of him pulled Sasuke out of his musings. Someone was counting loudly.

"One hundred and twenty-seven! One hundred and twenty-eight!"

Sasuke recognized Lee's voice easily as he kept walking. It was only because the path led this way that he was going to see what Lee was up to, Sasuke told himself. He wasn't curious. As he rounded a large rhodadendra bush, Sasuke saw Lee in a taijutsu stance, counting off punches as he alternated his hands.

"Good evening, Sasuke-kun!" Lee cried upon seeing he had company. "I am completing my evening routine as commanded by Gai-_sensei_."

Sasuke paused long enough to wonder what it would be like to have a _sensei_ coaching his taijutsu. He had his own routine of warm-ups and cool-downs, but he had come up with that on his own, and Kakashi never really commented on his taijutsu performance. The only time he had ever gotten any coaching was when Kaeru had stopped to visit with Team Seven and ended up sparring—

Sasuke pushed the thought from his mind with an almost physical shudder. He realized that Lee had stopped his taijutsu routine to stand in front of Sasuke.

"I would like to fight you sometime, Sasuke-kun," Lee said in a much calmer voice than he usually used. "You are the last of the Uchiha clan, and you were the Rookie of the Year in your class at the Academy."

Sasuke frowned at both mentions of his accomplishments. Being the only survivor of a massacre simply because you weren't worth killing wasn't something to be proud of. And what good was being Rookie of the Year if no one was there to congratulate you?

"You want to fight me?" Sasuke confirmed with a glare. "Let's go."

Lee's eyebrows—monstrous things, those—rose up in surprise.

"Now?"

"Yes, now," snapped Sasuke impatiently. He allowed his mouth to quirk into a crooked smile. "Unless you're afraid I'll beat you."

Sasuke found taunts were usually the best way to goad his opponent into doing what he wanted. It worked on Naruto, anyway. But Lee only pumped one fist into the air triumphantly.

"Very well!" he cried. "We shall have a battle!"

Sasuke barely had time to adjust his legs to a defensive stance and raise his hands before Lee charged. As it was, Sasuke still had to jerk to his right to avoid Lee's sudden right jab. Lee followed up with a roundhouse kick, and Sasuke quickly switched his arms to cross in front of him. The force of the kick sent Sasuke skidding across the dirt, struggling to keep his balance. Sasuke snapped himself back to attention and looked up, but Lee didn't press his advantage. He only waited until Sasuke had regained his defensive position before he charged again.

Sasuke focused on his eyes and _willed_ himself to see more clearly. Time seemed to slow, and he could see Lee's movements. Sasuke inhaled and thrust his palm in a strike where he predicted Lee's fist would be. But his palm, instead of batting Lee's fist away, only grazed against an arm that was already halfway through the strike. Sasuke blinked, only once, and looked into Lee's face, trying to determine how his Sharingan had read Lee's moves so wrong. Then, Lee's fist connected with Sasuke's chest.

Sasuke felt all the air leave his lungs as his mouth hung open, trying and failing to take in more oxygen. He saw a green blur from the corner of his eye and tried to raise a hand to block the incoming kick. His arm protected the side of his head from the direct impact of Lee's roundhouse kick, but the force of it sent Sasuke flying. Sasuke slid across the ground on his back, feeling the skin on his arm burn. His head hurt.

"Lee!"

Someone new was in the garden. Sasuke blinked to clear his vision. That blow to his head must have caused his Sharingan to deactivate. He looked up to see a shock of bright red hair stomping across the gardens.

"Stop beating up your teammate," commanded Kaeru, the harsh tone of his voice taking most of the humor out of his wry smile.

Sasuke pushed himself to his feet more slowly than he liked as Lee immediately dropped his hands and straightened into a more relaxed stance.

"Oh, Kaeru-kun," Lee greeted in surprise.

Kaeru nodded at Lee then used his thumb to point over his shoulder at the great house.

"I think Sakura-chan could use some help," he announced blandly.

The effect was immediate.

"_Yosh_! I will do my best to aid the lovely Cherry Blossom of Konoha!"

Lee sped toward the mansion without glancing back once. Kaeru's eyes followed the green-clad boy as he leaped onto the _engawa_ and disappeared into the house, presumably to search for Sakura. Then, Kaeru turned to look back at Sasuke.

Kaeru looked, on the whole, rather unconcerned with Sasuke's state. Sasuke noticed that the older boy had replaced his typical long-sleeved shirt with a short-sleeved one and had white bandages wrapped around his arms from his elbows down to his palms. Other than that, he looked unharmed from the encounter on the road. Kaeru carefully slipped his hands into his pockets and lifted one corner of his mouth into an expectant smile.

"Learn anything?" he demanded.

The question was familiar in a way Sasuke didn't particularly want to think about. He concentrated on determining what went wrong with his fight instead.

"How did he—"

Sasuke started to point after Lee's disappearance, but then he realized that he was dripping blood from his elbow all the way down his fingertips. Sasuke stared at his injured arm, wondering how he hadn't noticed the ground scrape a better part of his skin off. Kaeru grinned widely.

"All the foresight in the world won't help you if you can't move outa the way in time," he announced. "You need to be faster."

Kaeru turned on his heel and started to stroll back to the house, leaving Sasuke in the garden. Sasuke dropped his hand back down to his side and stared after Kaeru. The older boy seemed determined to teach him, and Sasuke didn't know why. Or he could be simply making fun of Sasuke's ignorance, but if that were the case Sasuke suspected Kaeru would be a bit more prideful in his knowledge. Kaeru tended to point out Sasuke's flaws nonchalantly. Still, Sasuke was sure that this weakness was something Kaeru knew about as well.

"You know how," he called to the back slowly leaving him alone.

Kaeru knew how to make Sasuke stronger. That was all Sasuke needed, really.

The redhead looked over his shoulder with a wide grin that reminded Sasuke forcibly of Naruto.

"Whaddaya wanna bet I can beat you in a footrace?" Kaeru demanded.

Sasuke frowned. So he needed to be faster? So be it. Without a word of warning, he bolted past Kaeru and sped toward the house. Just before he reached the _engawa_, he heard a boast from behind him.

"Last one around the house has to bow to Kakashi-_sensei_!"

* * *

Neji stood on the slanted roof of the magistrate's mansion and gazed out at the small town. He wasn't sure why the man was so nervous about his precious jewel. It was little more than a crystal that stored an unusual amount of chakra for an inanimate object. Suddenly, Neji heard something clatter behind him, and he spun around, his hands extended flat in front of him.

"Hey," Kaeru greeted him with a large grin.

Neji dropped his hands and tried not to let his exasperation show. It was one thing to be annoyed with his own teammates — as was frequently the case with Lee — but Uzumaki Kaeru was his elder, even if he did hold the same rank as Neji did. Plus, there was the strange attentiveness that Kakashi-_sensei_ always seemed to pin on the older boy. Kaeru was not as simplistic as Lee, no matter what he may pretend.

Kaeru held a small round tray in one hand with two ceramic mugs balanced on it. He smiled at Neji as if he could not recognize the boy's wish to be alone.

"Some girl thought you might like some tea while you're up here," Kaeru announced. "I think she was a maid or something. I told her I could get up on the roof easier."

Neji did not care about maids or tea, and he had no wish to try to make conversation with the older Uzumaki, as curious as Uzumaki Kaeru's sheer existence seemed to be. Besides, Neji was still angry at Kaeru for his comment on Neji's _Kaiton_.

It had taken Neji the better part of two years to nail down the key technique in the Hyuuga's style of fighting. And even then, he was forced to learn simply by observation, trial, and error. And each error had cost him. There had been times where his skin had nearly been ripped off from the force of expelling chakra from his _tenketsu_. But Neji had finally done it. That time on the road had been only his third successful attempt since mastering _Kaiton._ The analytical part of his mind recognized that he shouldn't have performed it when an ally was close at hand — the jutsu did extend 360 degrees — but the larger part of him was angry for needing a red-headed idiot who knew _nothing_ about his family to point out his own mistakes. He should have seen it himself.

"I do not want tea," Neji told Kaeru coolly and hoped that would end the conversation.

Neji turned around again and faced the small village. Behind him, he could hear a heavy sigh, almost exaggerated.

"Don't have to be such an ass about it," Kaeru muttered, suddenly closer to Neji's back than he thought the older boy had been.

There was a clatter of ceramics as Neji turned to watch Kaeru set the tray with the two green teas down on the flat roof. Neji scowled in the general direction of the tea tray rather than shoot Kaeru an actual glare for the insult. He could smell the sharpness of _macha_ coming from the steaming cup. Grudgingly, Neji wrapped his hands around the warm cup and lifted it to his lips. At least the magistrate didn't skimp on the quality of his tea.

"Thank you," Neji muttered, more out of duty than anything else.

Kaeru lowered himself to sit on the edge of the roof with his legs dangling freely in the air.

"Even when you're polite, you sound like an ass." Kaeru picked up the remaining cup of tea and sipped at it. As soon as the liquid touched his tongue, Kaeru grimaced at the cup, as if he had been expecting something else. He replaced the tea on the tray and laced his fingers together, resting his joined hands behind his head.

Neji scowled at took another sip of tea so that he wouldn't have to meet Kaeru's eyes and be accused of glaring again. Had the younger Uzumaki, Naruto, been the one to bring him tea and call him names, Neji wouldn't have hesitated to call the boy out, or at least put him back in his place. Uzumaki Naruto was a loser.

Neji wasn't sure he could say the same of Naruto's older brother.

"You don't have the right to tell me how to act," Neji dared to say before he sipped his tea to conceal his frown.

It wasn't as if Kaeru was connected to Neji in any way. He wasn't a family member; he wasn't even a teammate, really. This was only a temporary setup, and Uzumaki Kaeru could claim no permanent tie that would allow him the intimacy of correcting Neji's behavior.

Kaeru's hands flew from their relaxed position behind his head and slapped with a clatter on the edge of the tiled roof. The sound almost made Neji jump, but he kept his composure, even when Kaeru's eyes snapped to pin Neji with a sharp gaze.

"I get it. You don't respect me." Kaeru huffed quietly and leaned back as he crossed his arms over his chest, a direct contrast to the straight spine and sharp eyes Neji had seen only a moment before.

Neji didn't refute Kaeru's claims. After all, they _were_ true. But he did think of something that had bothered him earlier in the day.

"You recognized the _Kaiten_," Neji said. He meant to state a fact, the way he had heard his uncle speak calmly and coldly. But it came out sounding like an accusation.

Either way, it didn't seem to bother Kaeru, who just shrugged and tilted his head back to look at the night sky.

"Yeah, I've seen it before," he answered casually. "I know how the Hyuuga work."

For some reason, Neji's forehead felt hot, like he had developed a sudden fever. He sipped at the tea in his hands, trying to calm the words that vaulted in his chest, banging against his ribs in their quest to escape his tightly closed mouth.

"Then you know I am bound by Fate," Neji said once he was sure his voice wouldn't waiver or crack. "I was branded from the moment I could walk."

"It was probably slightly after that, actually."

Neji threw the rest of his tea down his throat, not caring about the way it burned the back of his tongue. How dare Kaeru cast aside Neji's own memories, as if he would know better than Neji.

"You know nothing about my curse," he spat before rising to his feet.

His head swam for a moment, and Neji gritted his teeth together. It had been a long time since he had gotten dizzy just from standing up too fast. It almost felt like there was too little blood in his head. As such, it took Neji a good moment to realize that the reason he wasn't stomping across the roof and back into the house like he had planned on doing was because Kaeru had a grip on his wrist, holding him in place. Neji forced himself to focus on Kaeru's face as the older boy frowned up at Neji, looking very displeased with the boy's behavior.

"You really think you're the only one who knows about curses?" Kaeru demanded in a harsh whisper. "At least you can escape yours. Mine's killing me."

Neji tore his arm from Kaeru's grasp and opened his mouth to command him to stop being so dramatic. But Kaeru's eyes were so serious that Neji didn't doubt that _Kaeru_ at least believed what he was saying, even if it wasn't entirely accurate.

Neji felt suddenly sick and closed his mouth to keep his stomach firmly in place. He turned his back on the genin sitting on the edge of the roof and started walking toward the slanted wall where he could easily slip back inside. Strangely the roof seemed to be moving beneath his feet. Neji's vision swarm, and he tried to gain enough control to unleash his _doujutsu_. It would be silly to call upon the Byagakun for something as simple as walking across a roof, but Neji needed the extra sharpness to see where he was going. He couldn't even tell where the roof dropped off into the darkness of night.

As Neji reached for his chakra, any control he might have had slipped away from his questing senses, and his vision blacked out completely. He could only think how much he hated being so weak in front of Kaeru, who knew so much and prodded where he had no right to.

* * *

"Neji!"

Daichi heard the older, red-headed boy cry out as his target collapsed onto the roof, and Daichi realized that he couldn't wait any longer. He couldn't risk the other genin staging a rescue or sounding an alarm. With a quick transportation jutsu, Daichi landed on the roof with a soft clatter, stooping down to pick up the unconscious Hyuuga boy.

"You!" snapped the redhead.

So, obviously the teenager was aware enough to recognize Daichi from their encounter earlier. Daichi cast a quick glance toward the edge of the roof, where one cup stood empty, drained of its contents, while the other was still more than half-full. It wasn't an ideal situation, but it was only Daichi thought he could turn to his advantage. At least he would be getting out of here with his prize.

The redhead leapt to his feet and then immediately wobbled as if his legs wouldn't hold him upright.

"What did you do?"

The glare the redhead shot him was worthy of his hair color, but Daichi wasn't worried.

"It seems not many of the magistrate's people are too fond of the one who rules them," Daichi informed the still-shaky genin. "It was easy to bribe one of them into giving you the tea."

The boy's eyes darted over to the tray with two cups on it, but then he went back to glaring at Daichi.

"You poisoned it," he spat.

"It was effective." Daichi shrugged.

Granted, it would have been more effective if _both_ the boys had drunk the tea, but there was just no pleasing some people. As it was, Daichi suspected the boy was incapacitated enough to prevent him from following. Daichi wrapped his arms beneath the Hyuuga's body and lifted the limp boy up, slinging the body over his shoulder like a sack of rice.

The redhead jerked forward and fell to his knees on the roof tiles.

"Give him back, _yarou_!" yelled the redhead.

Daichi turned to face the forest beyond the great house overlooking the village of Hakui. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the boy had managed to push himself so that one foot rested beneath him, his hands heavy on one knee.

"Stop me," he called, and jumped off the roof into the dark forest.

* * *

This was not good. Kaeru heaved himself to his feet and tried to think that he was on a boat instead of the supposedly solid roof he was supposed to be on. At least the rocking made sense that way. Kaeru drew to a stop at the edge of the roof, nearly tripping headfirst over the side as his arms spun in pinwheels to keep his balance. But as much as he stared into the dark forest, he couldn't see Neji or the Kumo _nuke-nin_ who had taken him.

This was definitely not good.

Kaeru swallowed back something thick and acidic at the back of his throat and blinked hard. His stomach didn't feel any better for the action, but his eyesight became a bit clearer. Kearu lifted his hands to his chest and crossed them into a familiar sign. One puff of smoke later, Kaeru stared into his mirror image beside him.

"Tell Kakashi-_sensei_ what happened," he ordered.

"_Ossu_." The clone snapped off a salute — no less respectful for it being less than sharp — and started running down the side of the building.

At least the clone seemed like he had the balance thing under control. With a deep breath, Kaeru launched himself off the roof and into the forest. He was a little surprised that he landed firmly on a large branch, but he saved that feeling for later when he could enjoy it and kept going.

The Kumo missing-nin could have poisoned the whole team, Kaeru knew. Even the magistrate's staff wasn't as large as those who served in the Hokage Tower, and they had far fewer checkpoints. It wouldn't be that much harder to convince the girl he had taken the tea from to pour the drug into the miso soup they had had for dinner. So, the shinobi had definitely been after Neji. It was something Kaeru could acknowledge, knowing what he did about Kumo's past attempts to get the Byagakun for themselves. It was slightly strange that a missing-nin was trying for it this time, but maybe he wanted to get back into the Raikage's good graces. Maybe he wanted to barter his freedom, or maybe he wanted a way to have a power that Kumo didn't have.

Either way, it just plain sucked that Neji was the one the ninja had chosen to go after. He had enough shit in his life to deal with, not to mention the seal that Kaeru knew was on his forehead. Once the Kumo-nin saw the seal on Neji's forehead, would he realize what it meant, or would he still try to extract Neji's eyes, sealing the Byagakun and killing Neji?

Kaeru grit his teeth as he continued through the forest, heading only in the same direction the missing nin had traveled. He couldn't let Neji die. He knew what kind of man the kid could grow up to be. Plus, Neji would eventually end up one of Naruto's friends, after he stopped all his moaning about Fate. That trumped any kind of motive the missing nin could have.

* * *

Naruto pulled the small-ish cloth pack onto his crossed legs and peered into the open top. Kaeru-nii hadn't even packed any ramen. How could he possibly hope to survive on a mission if he didn't pack any ramen?

Fortunately, Naruto wasn't actually looking for ramen. He had enough stored in his own pack, plus enough to share just in case Kaeru needed some of his own. But that wasn't so important right now. Naruto's eyes darted to the dark figure at the edge of the room. Sasuke was glowering, which wasn't too different from how he normally looked — although Naruto privately thought Sasuke looked a little angrier like this rather than that stupid, stuck-up look he usually wore. What was really unusual was the fact that Sasuke was glaring at Lee, not at Naruto. Naruto wasn't sure, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Sasuke's red, skinned elbow.

Lee, on the other hand, didn't seem the least bit aware of Sasuke's displeasure.

"You don't have to do this, Lee-_kun_," Sakura said with a hint of desperation. "_Really_."

Lee didn't even pause from his task of performing the one-handed push-ups on the floor of the large room the magistrate had provided.

"Yeah, aren't you tired, Bushy Brows?" demanded Naruto as he shifted Kaeru's small pack in his lap.

"But that is the point, dear friend!" Lee somehow managed to raise his voice while huffing from his position parallel to the floor. "The lovely Sakura-_chan_ will be able to practice _iryou-jutsu_ on sore muscles when she cannot on broken skin."

Sakura shot a look at Sasuke, who quickly turned his head away from glaring at Lee in order to avoid his teammate's gaze. Sasuke had refused to allow Sakura to try out the medical jutsu she had been studying. Naruto turned up his nose at the thought of Sasuke being mean to Sakura. Sakura _liked_ Sasuke; she wanted to be acknowledged by him, and Naruto could understand that feeling.

That didn't mean Sasuke had to be a bastard about it.

Naruto returned his focus to the pack in his lap, scanning the mix of scrolls and the cloth-wrapped block for mixing ink. Naruto hoped Kaeru wouldn't need more help where Kakshi-_sensei_ would see him. Kakashi-_sensei_ was cool, most of the time. But Kaeru-nii's seals were a secret, so Naruto had to keep it a secret. Besides, he hadn't gotten the money to buy him new brushes yet.

Naruto suddenly thrust his hand into the pack, scuffled around for a moment as he bit his lip in concentration, and withdrew a short, thin roll of white cloth from the pack. Pushing himself to his feet, Naruto padded across the floor barefooted and dump the roll of bandages into Sasuke's lap.

"Here," Naruto said shortly.

Sasuke stared down at the roll in his lap like he wasn't sure what to do with it. Naruto only crossed his arms and stared down at Sasuke. Naruto noticed everything around him get quiet, but he didn't look away from Sasuke until he knew that Sasuke knew what to do. Naruto even considered offering to wind the bandage around Sasuke's arm for him; he knew how difficult that could be from watching Kaeru-nii with his own arms. But Sasuke was just sitting there like a dimwit, plus the bastard had refused to let Sakura help when she had offered, and that was just mean. Who could _not_ want Sakura-chan to play nurse to him?

With his eyes firmly fixed on his lap, Sasuke gingerly picked up the roll of bandages with his uninjured hand. Naruto nodded, satisfied that Sasuke would take it from here. Naruto was allowed to help Kaeru-nii because they were brothers, or close enough to count, anyway. Sasuke wouldn't be that nice about having help, even from Naruto.

Naruto turned and padded his way back to Kaeru's pack of stuff. There wasn't any ramen in there, which was kinda hard to believe given the awesomeness that was ramen, but Naruto had definitely seen that scroll that Kaeru-nii had been looking at before they had left Konoha. If Naruto took the scroll out of the pack and laid it on the floor, he was just getting it ready for Kaeru-nii to look at it, right? And if the scroll just _happened_ to open while waiting for Kaeru-nii — well, that wasn't Naruto's fault, right?

Naruto snuck his hand into the open mouth of the cloth pack and fished around silently. Then, a crash sounded by the window and a dark body vaulted through the open window. Naruto snatched his hand away from the pack and straightened guiltily.

"Kaeru-nii!" he shouted, hoping his cousin hadn't actually seen him rummaging through his belongings.

Kaeru didn't look at Naruto, however. He stumbled in his landing, almost falling forward on his face, before he straightened and found Kakashi. Naruto thought Kaeru looked a little off, like he had just been sick.

"Neji's been taken," Kaeru announced without preamble.

"What!"

Lee pushed himself to his feet from his planked position doing his crazy push-ups. Naruto's eyes widened and saw Kakashi snap his little orange book shut as he surged to his feet.

"The Kumo _nuke-nin_ from earlier," Kaeru said shortly. "He came back."

Kaeru was panting, which made Naruto a little nervous as he fell on his butt and shoved his feet into his _zori_.

"Poisoned us." Kaeru's breathing wasn't getting any easier, and he was sweating. "Got Neji. Going west."

Kaeru jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the window he had come bursting through. Naruto shoved his toes down, satisfied at the fit, and grabbed his shuriken holster as he jumped to his feet.

"How do you know?" Kakashi demanded of Kaeru.

Naruto thought that was kind of a silly question. Of course Kaeru would know what was happening. He had gone up on the roof to make sure Neji was all right because he was cool like that.

"Boss is following," Kaeru said shortly. "Come on."

_ "Yosh!_" Lee vaulted forward, his hands balled into fists and his voice showing more intent than entusiasm.

Naruto rushed to Lee's side, standing in front of Kaeru ready for action. He noticed that Sasuke had gotten to his feet as well, completely geared for a mission, and Sakura was in the process of shoving her scroll into her pack.

"No," Kakashi said immediately as his eyes traveled over all four of the younger genin. "You stay here."

Naruto bunched his hands into fists when Kaeru didn't say anything to Kakashi.

"No way!" he shouted.

Sasuke wasn't glaring anymore, but he did have a white bandage around his arm. Even Sakura looked pretty darn determined to Naruto. Kakashi was a pretty big bully if he wouldn't even let his own students follow the Rules.

"We're coming, Kakashi-_sensei_." Naruto frowned up at Kakashi. "Those who leave teammates behind are worse than trash."

Naruto kept his eyes on Kakashi-_sensei_, refusing to look away when he knew he had to convince Kakashi that they had to go after the stupid guy who took Neji. He might have been a bastard, but Neji was a teammate. That was all Naruto really needed to know.

"Get into the formation from the road today," Kakashi said. "Kaeru and I will lead."

Naruto held out his left fist to Lee, who grinned and knocked back with his own fist. Sasuke didn't say a word as he stood next to Sakura, who was tying her hair with an elastic band at the back of her neck. Kaeru turned back to the window while Kakashi-_sensei_ followed close behind. Naruto placed both his palms on the windowsill and vaulted out. He landed on a branch next to Kaeru and tried to channel enough chakra to his feet to keep from slipping. Suddenly, there was a hand on his arm, holding him steady.

"Careful," Kaeru said calmly.

"I'm all right." Naruto shrugged the hand off. "Let's go."

He kind of missed having Kaeru helping him, but they didn't have time for that. Naruto had to be strong enough and skilled enough at this to run across branches on his own. He had to be strong enough to protect his teammates.

* * *

A/N: I live! I am incredibly guilty! I've no doubt some of you will be shocked that I even managed to get this measly excuse for a chapter up on my own. Not to mention the fact that it's been a year and some months since my last update, and people are still clamoring for me to continue this story. Never let it be said that I don't listen to reviewers. Well, actually . . . never mind.

Having taken the two years it did to finish _Nom de Guerre _(which I am insanely proud of, and could you please go read and tell me what you think?), I thought it would be a good time to return to Kaeru and company and see what he's going to do next. We'll be in this filler-type Arc for one more chapter and then Kaeru starts getting into trouble. After all, Kakashi isn't the only one who suspects something.

Thanks,

Fia


	21. Chapter 21

Kaeru stumbled off the thick branch he was on and snapped out his hand to catch himself, hooking his fingers around a smaller branch. He hung there like a monkey for a moment with his arm bearing his weight. He couldn't remember the last time his body had felt this heavy.

"Stupid bastard," he grumbled as he pulled himself back up to the branch. "Who puts poison in tea?"

Apparently the bastard who had taken Neji's limp body right off the roof was the type to go for poison.

Kaeru dropped to a lower branch and kept running through the canopy. He was getting pretty good at ignoring the pins and needles that shot through his muscles every time he landed and crouched to take off again. His legs weren't turning to jelly only by sheer force of will.

Then, Kaeru saw a dark figure moving about on the forest floor. It was heading toward a hill that jutted out from a small stream. The water looked like it had carved out a gorge at the bottom of the rocky hill — more like a cliff, really. Kaeru let himself fall to the forest floor. He felt the muscles in his legs twinge and rolled into a somersault so that he wouldn't collapse to the ground. Then, Kaeru sprang up and balled his hands into fists.

"Hey!" he shouted.

The dark-skinned ninja glanced over his shoulder with Neji's body in his arms. Then he lept over the stream and disappeared through a crack in the dark rocks.

"Ah, come on," whined Kaeru.

Why did the creepy, peodphile-ninja always have to have caves as their hideouts? Was this in some kind of evil megalomaniac handbook Kaeru didn't know about? He slipped through the same crack and found the Kumo nuke-nin setting Neji on the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kaeru demanded, hoping his voice didn't crack with the sound of his exhaustion.

"You shouldn't have followed me." The ninja turned around slowly to face Kaeru. "You're still weak from my poison."

"Well, lucky for me I never liked tea that much." Kaeru stuck his tongue out childishly. Hanging around Naruto was apparently making Kaeru revert to what he had once been instead of the person he was now.

Kaeru took a step forward to see Neji better, but the Kumo-nin drew a tanto and pointed it down at the unconscious boy. Kaeru froze and stared at the blade that hovered over Neji's body. He understood the silent threat well enough, and there was no way he could move fast enough to get around the Kumo-nin and snatch Neji away or to get the straight blade away from the Kumo-nin before he could simply make a downward stroke to cut something vital. His best bet was the fact that he had sent his clone after Kakashi. Kakashi would be more adept in this situation than a drugged Kaeru.

"I thought you wanted the crystal," Kaeru said disdainfully. "Or are you just interference while your partners attack the village?"

"They left as soon as Konoha showed up," the Kumo-nin spat. "Cowards didn't want to face a bunch of genin."

Kaeru almost smiled at that, but now wasn't really the time. Still, he was pretty sure his team was awesome.

"What are you still sticking around for, then?" Kaeru couldn't help the wheedling tone that escaped him, bolstered by the idea that Kakashi would be coming soon.

"You don't know your own history?" demanded the Kumo-nin with a bitter laugh.

Kaeru suddenly felt a little less confident.

"It was nine years ago now that the Raikage decided he wanted some of Konoha's strength for himself," continued the missing nin. "He sent a shinobi to Konoha under the premise of peace with orders to kidnap a member of the Hyuuga Clan and bring it back to Kumo."

Kaeru had hoped the conversation wouldn't go in this direction. Kumo had taken a rather hands-off position toward Konoha for as long as he had been aware of the countries surrounding Hi no Kuni, and that hadn't really been until Jiraiya had taken him on his training trip. He certainly hadn't heard of Neji encountering any disgruntled Kumo-nin back when he had been a genin.

"Bit late for you to be completing that mission, isn't it?" Kaeru shifted his weight to the balls of his feet carefully.

The Kumo-nin's face suddenly hardened, and the dark man glared at Kaeru with the kind of hate Kaeru had seen before only from Sasuke.

"You wouldn't understand."

Kaeru curled his fingers one by one and wondered how long he could go on with only his own immune system fighting against the poison already in his body. Whenever Kakashi wanted to show up would be fine with him.

* * *

"You wouldn't understand."

The voice pierced Neji's consciousness a moment before he realized he was awake. He didn't recognize the voice; it was too harsh and hurt to be Gai-sensei, but that wasn't right because he was on a mission with Hatake-sensei and his stupid team.

"He was my teammate," said the same harsh voice. "I was with him from the time we were nine, and he died on that mission. You _killed _him."

Neji peeled his eyes open slowly. A dark figure rose up in front of him, and Neji remembered why he felt so weak. This was the same man he had faced on the road to Harui, a dark-skinned missing-nin from Kumo.

"And how will this help anything?" said another voice.

Neji's still-blurry eyes strained to focus on the figure beyond the Kumo-nin, a shorter figure standing tall despite the dim and damp surroundings of the cavern. Neji saw the redhead's eyes flicker to Neji as he raised one hand in a very noncombatant gesture.

"He was only a boy."

Kaeru seemed to realize that Neji was awake right after he finished speaking. Neji quickly shut his eyes, feigning unconsciousness yet again in case the Kumo-nin decided to pay him any attention. It rankled his pride to simply lay on the ground - which was getting his back damper by the minute - but it wasn't as if he would be particularly helpful. He couldn't even focus his eyes properly yet.

"My teammate died because of his family," spat the Kumo-nin. "And then Konoha sent us a worthless body. The eyes couldn't even be harvested."

The muscles in Neji's throat all seized up so that he couldn't swallow back the lump like he wanted to. He knew immediately what the shinobi and Kaeru were talking about. It had been nearly ten years since Kumo's last attempt to steal the Hyuuga's doujutsu, but it remained a defining moment in Neji's life. He could remember exactly where he stood when his uncle informed him that his father would not be coming home any longer.

"So, you're after the Byagakun?" Kaeru asked, nearly sneering out the words.

Neji had barely a moment to consider that would be somewhat worthless because the seal on his forehead would kill him before the Kumo-nin could.

"I couldn't care less about his stupid eyes or what Ei-sama wants," the nuke-nin snapped. "I want my vengeance."

"Vengeance."

Kaeru's one-word repetition was almost a sigh, like he was disappointed. Neji thought whatever was causing his weakness had affected his hearing as well.

"You really think that taking a life for a life will solve anything?" demanded Kaeru.

"Why not?" the Kumo-nin tossed out. "His family stole my teammate, my friend."

The shinobi's voice was heated and full of hate. Neji opened his eyes once again, assessing his vision and trying to guess how long it would be before he was at fighting strength once again.

"I know what it's like to lose a brother."

The Kumo-nin still had his back to Neji, but Kaeru's eyes were fixed on the missing nin rather than glancing at Neji at all.

"I know what it's like to hate the one who's taken someone away from you," Kaeru continued in a low voice. "But this won't solve anything."

Neji saw Kaeru take one deliberate step toward the Kumo-nin and thought he needed to heal a little bit faster.

* * *

Running through the forest by leaping from tree branch to tree branch was easier than Naruto thought it would be. It was a matter of judging the distance to the next leap and then taking off as soon as he landed. Really, it wasn't that much harder than running away from people in Konoha who got angry because he had pranked someone or turned a store sign orange.  
Naruto pressed the edges of his teeth together. This was way more important than thinking about some stupid prank.

Kaeru was still running up ahead with Kakashi-sensei, leading the way because Kaeru knew where he was going. Kakashi-sensei hadn't really said anything since they left the giant house, which made Naruto think that now was a time to be serious. Plus, there was the way Kaeru-nii had stumbled when he had entered the room. There was something wrong with him. Maybe something hurt him more than it should've on the road.

Naruto glanced to his right and saw Lee keeping pace with him quite well. Then, Lee's foot crashed into the branch next to Naruto, and there was a crack like a stick breaking. Naruto kept running — he couldn't stop when his teammate was in trouble — but he glanced over his shoulder to look behind him. Lee had left an indentation in the wood, the exact shape of his foot. Kinda like how Sasuke had when they had just been learning how to walk up trees.

Naruto quickly faced forward again before he stumbled over another branch. They seemed to come up faster than Naruto thought they would. Once he was sure of his footing again, he glanced at the tall, skinny boy beside him.

"Don't worry," Naruto said quietly. "We'll find 'em."

Lee looked surprised that Naruto had spoken at all, but Naruto didn't mind. This had to be part of being a team, after all — the quiet moments where he trained with Kaeru-nii or the parts where he knew exactly how Sasuke felt, not having any parents to discipline him — and Lee was his teammate even if only for a little while. So Naruto grinned widely and pumped one fist in the air.

"And when we catch up to Kaeru-nii and Neji, we'll kick ass just like on the road!"

Lee smiled a bit at that, so Naruto was satisfied.

"Yes," Lee replied simply.

Still grinning, Naruto cast one swift glance over his shoulder before he faced forward again. Sasuke and Sakura were side by side, which didn't bother Naruto as much as he thought it might've, and running just as fast as the rest of them. Sakura looked rather surprised at Naruto, or at his sudden outburst, but Sasuke only wore a smug smirk.

Naruto snickered and supposed Sasuke was practicing for when they beat down the enemy and Sasuke could take his chance at looking cool once again.

* * *

"Don't come any closer!" Daichi shouted as he shifted backwards so that his tanto hovered over the unconscious boy at the back of the cavern wall.

The redhead stopped moving, but he didn't change that expression of old sorrow and understanding. Daichi hated that look on his enemy's face.

"What do you think will happen?" demanded the young redhead. "If you take Neji's life, his team won't forgive you. His sensei will probably kill you with one punch."

The boy's mouth turned up into a wry smile, the kind that almost made Daichi believe what the kid was saying.

"And then your loved ones will want vengeance on him, and then Konoha will take vengeance on them," the boy continued. "Hate only brings more hate, like a cycle. That's how the world works, right? Death after death until the whole world is bloody."

Daichi hadn't seen eyes like that since the last Shinobi War was fresh in everyone's minds. Eyes that had seen people die within an arm's reach when nothing could be done for them.

"I've seen that world," said the boy, and Daichi believed him. "It's ugly as hell."

Daichi studied the boy and his eyes that had seen war. The kid hardly looked old enough to remember the Great Shinobi War, but Daichi knew enough about the world to know violence wasn't limited to world wars. Shinobi were, by nature, bloodthirsty and deceptive.

"You can understand my pain," he realized slowly.

"Yes."

Daichi nodded then turned around and jerked the Hyuuga boy to his feet. The boy's eyes snapped open, though his pupils were nonexistent and his eyes looked glazed over. Daichi flipped the tanto in his hand and held it under the boy's chin.

"Then your team will know that same pain," declared Daichi.

Immediately, the redhead's eyes hardened, and his hands became fists as his knees bent in more of a fighting stance than a negotiating one.

"_Yarou_," growled the young man. "You don't want peace? I'll make it simple."

Daichi saw it again. It couldn't be the lighting now that was making the young man's eyes turn from blue to blood red.

"I'll kill you before you hurt my friend."

The redhead flicked his right hand and suddenly held a straight, pointed kunai where his hand had been empty only moments before. His red eyes flickered to a point just above Daichi's head, to his right. For a moment, Daichi worried that the redhead had brought an ally with him or had summoned a clone or animal to sneak around him while the boy kept Daichi occupied with talking. Despite not being able to sense any chakra behind him, Daichi let his eyes follow his enemy's gaze over his shoulder to the height of the cavern.

As soon as Daichi had turned his head, he heard the wind brush against a blade and turned back. He raised the tanto that had been threatening the Hyuuga boy to bat away the kunai sailing toward him. The boy slumped down as if his legs couldn't hold him, his sudden collapse weighing down one of Daichi's arms as the redhead Konoha-nin came charging. Daichi flung the Hyuuga boy backward, hoping the kid cracked his skull against the rocks so he would at least be unconscious and easy to handle as soon as he finished this fight.

The young man from Konoha surged forward with another kunai in his opposite hand, pointing the weapon fiercely at Daichi's face. Daichi brought his tanto up again and used it to push aside the knife, letting his blade slide along the other boy's hand and forearm as if Daici was sliding his short blade along a longer sword, like some of the jounin in Kumo were issued. The redhead jerked back once the tanto broke skin, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the knife from slicing through the white bandages on his arm.

The boy raised his free arm and gripped the collar of Daichi's shirt. Daichi drove his blade closer to the skin of the kid's arm, but the kid seemed to ignore it as his foot kicked out to knock Daichi off balance. He swung the pair of them in a wide circle so that the Konoha-nin was standing with his back to the wall of the cavern, directly between Daichi and the Hyuuga boy, who was slumped on the stone floor.

The white bandages on the redhead's seeped with a line of red before splitting open and falling off his arm. Daichi saw the black lines on the boy's arm and thought they were simply circles around his forearm; it was a strange tattoo to have, but Daichi didn't think much of it. But then he realized that the inked lines were far more complicated than mere rings. They were seals. Daichi saw blood dripping from the thin red line his tanto had drawn on the inside of the boy's forearm, right through the black seals that wrapped around his arm. Glancing up, Daichi saw that there were now three dark marks, like whiskers, stretching out across either of the kid's cheeks. His eyes nearly glowed a fiery red in the darkness of the cave.

"Ya should know better than to tease a fox, _bakayarou_," the redhead growled.

The boy lifted his right hand, palm up, away from his body. The chakra that slowly gathered in the kid's palm lit up his face with an eerie, ghostly glow.

* * *

Kakashi threw up a hand in a signal to stop when the red-haired figure beside him abruptly halted his journey through the canopy and dropped to the forest floor. Kakashi really doubted that the genin behind him would recognize the hand signals that Kakashi was giving them — he had sorely skipped out on that part of his team's training - but they would get the idea as Kakashi jumped off his current perch and landed beside the redheaded boy.

"Where now?" Kakashi demanded.

Kaeru cast his eyes around, looking pale, weak, and undoubtedly lost. Kakashi followed the gaze and saw the cold creek spilling across the black rocks at the edge of the treeline.

"There's something—"

"Hey, what are we doing?" demanded Naruto as he jumped down to stand just behind Kaeru and Kakashi.

Kakashi could have done without the questioning, especially when he wasn't quite sure of the answer himself. Kaeru's red head turned toward the stream as the rest of the genin fell into line behind them, and Kakashi heard the beginnings of something creaking and groaning, like an object straining under too much weight.

Without saying a word, Kakashi pushed his forehead protector up over his closed eye and stared at the rocks beside the stream. He had the time to see a large crack form in the center of the rocks that jutted up beyond the other side of the stream. The crack split the solid rock face from base nearly to the top like a clay pot breaking.

"Whoa!"

The figure beside Kakashi leapt forward with Kakashi right behind him. Kakashi already had Lightning chakra surrounding his fingers, calling up his natural element without bothering to give it the sharpened shape of Raikiri.

"Kaeru-nii!" Naruto cried just as thunder sounded in the clear sky.

The rock face gave way suddenly, blasting outward as if a force had pushed it from the other side. Kakashi saw a dark-skinned figure punch through the rock wall, back first like he had been thrown. Kakashi had only enough time to recognize the man as the Kumo missing-nin from the road before he caught a glimpse of blue chakra at the man's stomach. Then, a red head of hair and a solid back blocked his view of the mess in front of him. Annoyed, Kakashi brought up his hand and thrust the raw _Raiton_ chakra in the center of Kaeru's back. He wasn't surprised when the figure of Kaeru disappeared in a puff of smoke; there had been enough clues.

By the time the smoke had cleared from the dispersion of the clone, Kakashi only saw the Kumo missing-nin falling backwards as Kaeru — the real Kaeru — stood in the broken gap of the black rock face with his right arm extended. Even from his position across the stream, Kakashi could see that the young man's arm was bleeding and stripped of the plain bandages he had had on since that afternoon. Kaeru stared down at the missing-nin's body, still and silent in the cold water, with an expression that made Kakashi think of the war and Minato-sensei standing over a battlefield looking down at the bodies he was responsible for.

"Kaeru-nii!" Naruto yelled again.

The shout seemed to wake Kaeru to his surroundings. He jerked his head up in a startled gesture that made his eyes fall on Naruto immediately. Then Kaeru's gaze shifted to Kakashi, and the redhead gave Kakashi a look the jounin couldn't quite decipher. It wasn't suspicious or angry, but there was something hard in Kaeru's eyes.

"Where's Neji?" called Naruto, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Ah." Kaeru blinked again as if he hadn't been expecting the question. "Here."

He turned back into the cavern behind him, and Kakashi leapt across the cold creek in two quick strides to witness what had happened. By the time he was standing in the broken rock face, taking Kaeru's previous place, Kaeru was already stooped down on the floor of the cave with Neji in his arms. The boy seemed to be conscious, but he didn't look like his muscles would support any of his weight. Kaeru stood and turned to Kakashi, who backed up enough to allow Kaeru room to maneuver in the skinny space afford by the blown-out crevice.

"Neji, my friend!" Lee shouted when Kaeru appeared with Neji in his arms.

Kaeru silently passed Neji to Kakashi, who waded across the creek to set the boy on dry ground. Even in the night air, Kakashi could see that Neji's eyes were only half-opened. Shaking himself slightly, Kaeru knelt beside Kakashi's right side.

"He got poisoned," Kaeru said in a low voice. "That ninja said he bribed one of the maids to put poison in the tea we drank."

Kakashi craned his neck so that he could give Kaeru a quick once-over.

"You seem to be all right," he concluded finally.

Kaeru scowled at him.

"I don't like tea."

Kakashi shrugged deliberately for the time being and turned his attention back to Neji. He wasn't quite sure what the purpose of the poison had been, but it had certainly cleared out all of the magistrate's so-called protection from the mansion. Kakashi wouldn't be surprised if the two other missing-nin from the group they had encountered on the road had taken full advantage of the team's disappearance, if they were, indeed, after the jewel the magistrate was so intent on guarding.

Kakashi wasn't that bothered by the thought that the small politician had been robbed. For one thing, it wasn't their mission in the first place and for another, the missing-nin were Kusa's problem, not Konoha's.

"Kaeru-kun, you're bleeding."

Kakashi glanced up, seeing his students, including the temporary addition of Lee — who hovered directly over Neji's head — crowding around Kakashi and Kaeru. Even Sasuke was standing right behind Naruto, alternating between examining Neji and joining Naruto in peering at Kaeru. It was Sakura, however, who brought everyone's attention to Kaeru. She was on her knees at Kaeru's right side, already digging through the pack slung sideways across her body intently.

"Let me see—" She held out a hand rather commandingly for a twelve-year-old who had blushed at the thought of her crush.

"I'm all right." Kaeru stood abruptly before Sakura could touch him.

Kakashi's eye caught the way Kaeru shifted his shoulder in some attempt to hide his right arm behind his body. But Kakashi could still the blood dripping from the tips of Kaeru's fingers down to the darkened ground. Kaeru nodded his chin at Neji's still form in front of Kakashi.

"Neji needs more—"

"Sakura won't know what to do with a victim of poison," interrupted Kakashi. He glanced at Sakura, who was still looking up surprised at Kaeru's sudden movement. "Unless you've gotten that far in your scrolls already?"

It took a moment for Sakura to shift her attention from Kaeru to her sensei.

"No," she admitted, looking slightly guilty as if she expected to be farther in her studies when she didn't have a proper tutor.

Kakashi nodded and tried to make a mental note to see if any of the iryou-nin at the Konoha Hospital had any free time when they got back to Konoha.

"I'll take care of Neji for now," he announced.

Sakura wasted no time in nodding and getting to work. Rising to her feet, Sakura grabbed Kaeru's left hand and led him over to a large dark rock jutting out from the creek bank. Kaeru didn't look at Kakashi as he followed after Sakura like an obedient puppy, but he didn't protest any further, either. Kakashi suspected Kaeru knew that Sakura wouldn't be able to help Neji as much as Kakashi would, even with his limited training.

"I'll help you, Sakura-chan," Naruto declared, following behind his cousin as his hand dipped into his shuriken pouch. "Ah, I don't have any bandages!"

Naruto nearly flailed his arms into pinwheels in his panic, but then a calm hand thrust a fresh roll of white cloth in Sakura's face.

"Here." Sasuke's voice was the same nondescript, calm tone that Kakashi had come to expect to him. But Kakashi could still see the way the boy held his muscles slightly tenser than the situation called for with the enemy disposed of already.

Kakashi tore his gaze from the way his three students crowded around the older redhead and returned his attention to Neji.

"Will he be alright?" Lee asked in a quieter voice than Kakashi had ever heard him use.

Kakashi made a precise incision on Neji's forearm and smeared the boy's blood on a thin strip of specially tinted paper from his first aid kit. After watching it change color, Kakashi gave Gai's student an encouraging smile.

"He should be fine," Kakashi announced. "It seems the poison was merely intended to knock Neji unconscious. It's nothing more serious than very strong sleeping pills."

Lee's shoulders slumped in relief as Neji's head lolled, as if he decided the battle with unconsciousness wasn't worth fighting anymore. Kakashi administered a basic antidote from his kit, meant to speed the recovery process, and then looked over at his team. Sakura was just finishing wrapping fresh bandages around Kaeru's right arm. With Kaeru extending his arm for Sakura's ease of work, Kakashi could see the shadow of ink just on the inside of Kaeru's elbow. Kakashi had seen the seals that decorated Kaeru's arms before, but he had never taken the time to study them. He left Neji in Lee's hyper-observant care and strode to where Sakura was turned to the pile of used gauze by her side.

"Let me take those." Kakashi scooped the bloody gauze from off the ground before Sakura could touch it. "Used bandages should be disposed of properly, right, Sakura?"

He smiled at her for reassurance, which she seemed to take in stride, even straightening up proudly.

"How's Neji?" interjected Kaeru.

"I've given him a basic antidote, and the poison is already working it's way out of his system," Kakashi replied without thinking.

It was only after he finished that Kakashi realized he had sounded more like a subordinate reporting than a teacher being reassuring. Abruptly, he spun on his heel.

"I'll be right back," he announced. "Try to get Neji on his feet so we can get back to town."

Sakura hastened to Neji's side, still taking her duties as the only thing resembling a med-nin seriously. Sasuke followed very reluctantly, and Naruto only moved when Kaeru pushed himself to his feet, bracing his palms on his knees. Kakashi stood over the body of the Kumo missing nin and bent down to begin the process of destroying the body. It technically wasn't his job — he _could_ just leave the body for the man's teammates or a Kumo hunter nin to find — but Kakashi had been in ANBU too long to leave any messes behind him.

Then, Kakashi noted the wound on the man's stomach. It was fatal; that was obvious from the sheer amount of mess the wound had left behind. But more than that, it was familiar. The man's torso had been carved out like someone had taken a spoon to his center. But the skin all around the wound was puckered and sliced into a spiral, swirled grooves all leading into the point where Kakashi could practically see through the hole in the man's body.

Kakashi suddenly bent down and threw the body onto dry ground. In a fit of paranoia, he didn't even take the man's head before lighting the body on fire.

"I coulda done that," said Kaeru from just behind Kakashi's shoulder.

Kakashi had to command his heart to be still before he glanced behind him.

"Oh, have you done this before?" Kakashi asked, his voice a little sharper than he wanted it to be.

Kaeru's answer was to look away from Kakashi's one-eyed gaze and study the genin crowding around Neji, who was apparently awake enough to protest being manhandled by both Lee and Naruto.

"I haven't forgotten you zapped me in the back," Kaeru pouted, his lips pursing in a manner very similar to what Kakashi had seen before on Naruto.

"That was a clone," Kakashi said, his voice deadened.

"How did you know it was a clone?" demanded the redhead.

"It called you 'Boss'."

Kakashi turned, done with the conversation that had no real point anyway, and approached his kids. They needed to get back to the village so that Neji could properly sleep off the rest of the poison, and then they would leave as soon as it was light. Considering recent events, Kakashi was suddenly very eager to be back in Konoha.

* * *

Neji woke after his teammates were already awake and ready to face the day. Ignoring the stiffness around his shoulders that almost suggested he had slept in a strange position, Neji got ready hurriedly while Lee hovered nearby, ready to assist his teammate in any way.

Neji tried not to think of how he had had to place one hand on Lee's shoulder when he had stumbled out the doorway of the room.

The other genin team paid a little less attention to him. Sakura eyed him speculatively but seemed content to leave him alone once she had determined that he was up to full health again. Uchiha said nothing, only continued with his packing. Naruto was nowhere in sight, nor was the only jounin.

"Where is Hatake-_sensei_?" Neji asked the room.

"Trying to get out of paying for the night's stay," answered a voice from the corner.

Neji turned to where Kaeru was carefully unwrapping the strip of bandages that covered his left arm. Neji was almost surprised that Sakura was letting him before he realized that it had been Kaeru's right arm that was injured. The only thing under the bandages in Kaeru's hand currently was a black design that stretched from his left wrist all the way up to his elbow. Neji knew that parts of the previous night were hazy, but he still remembered enough. He nodded curtly to Lee to dismiss him and strode over to the older boy.

Kaeru looked up when Neji stood in front of him, but his only reaction was a brief nod before he returned his attention to his arm.

"When Kumo demanded recompense for their ambassador, my father's body was sent to Kumo so that they wouldn't get the Byagakun," Neji blurted.

A part of him was secretly glad of Kaeru's wide eyes and shocked look. At least the older genin knew what it meant for Neji to share something so personal.

"Why are you telling me?" Kaeru asked in a low voice.

Neji resisted glancing over his shoulder to see what the rest of the room's occupants were doing. He could sense their chakra well enough to know none of them would be able to overhear unless they had a bloodline that included super-hearing.

"Who did you lose?" Neji demanded. When Kaeru's face dropped and Neji suspected he would refuse to answer, he pressed harder. "You said you knew how he felt. You lost someone."

Kaeru glanced up at Neji with a look that almost suggested he wanted to roll his eyes.

"I'm beginning to think you're not an ass," he said, exasperated, "you just have no idea how to talk to someone."

"Who did you lose?" Neji repeated.

Kaeru's eyes fell to his arm as he continued stripping the bandages away.

"My mother, my father," Kaeru said without looking up. "My godfather. _O-jiji. O-baa-chan_. My first love, my _sensei_. And my best friend."

Neji almost believed that Kaeru was exaggerating but then Kaeru met Neji's eyes. Kaeru's eyes were deep blue and haunted; they belonged to someone who had seen someone precious die in front of their eyes. It was a personal hurt, not at the world but just sorrowful and alone. Neji tried not to blink and lose the eye contact, but he felt awkward saying nothing when Kaeru had obviously let him see something so private.

"You keep telling me I don't know anything about you, but you don't know about me, either," Kaeru declared.

"Then tell me," Neji returned. "Why do you have those seals?"

Kaeru let his eyes fall back to his arm.

"How good are your eyes?" he asked as he peeled off the last of the bandages and let them fall away.

Neji obligingly activated his _doujutsu_ and stared at the black symbols on Kaeru's arm. He saw a yellow shade of chakra flowing through Kaeru's arm like blood through veins. But overlaid on top of that was another shade running in the very same patterns as the seals traced out on Kaeru's arm.

"Those seals have chakra in them," Neji murmured, taking in the way the chakra moved sluggishly.

Then, Neji's eyes saw the same ugly, red chakra in the seals seeping into to Kaeru's regular chakra coils. The coils around the seals were raw, as if inflamed, as a result. Neji traced the slow leakage of red chakra through Kaeru's _tenketsu_ like he was watching tainted water flowing. Once Neji reached Kaeru's torso, he saw thin tendrils of the red chakra clinging to Kaeru's major organs like capillaries. Neji looked up into Kaeru's face, quickly deactivating his bloodline so that he could read the older boy's expression.

"It's killing you." Neji remembered just in time to keep his voice low.

Kaeru did not look surprised.

"It's been killing me since I first got it." He picked up the roll of bandages lying loosely on the floor and pressed the end of it into the palm of his hand. His eyes were on his work as he started winding the cloth around his hand, moving to his wrist. "Can't even fight right with these. Damn luck I could do that jutsu."

"That jutsu?" repeated Neji.

Kaeru's eyes, sharp again like lightning in a blue sky instead of a pool, snapped up to Neji.

"Did you see the technique I used on the Kumo-nin?" he asked.

Neji frowned. He had been half-asleep and still drugged when Kaeru had fought with the man who had kidnapped him. It rankled Neji a bit that he had been so helpless, but the fact remained that Kaeru's back had been facing Neji when he had made his final strike against the enemy. The only thing Neji remembered was the vague shape of the jutsu and the way the chakra moved.

"It looked like a storm in the palm of your hand," Neji said finally.

"Don't tell anyone about that jutsu, Neji," Kaeru ordered as if he fully expected to be obeyed. "The only reason I could do it was because my chains had already broke."

"Chains?" Neji frowned down at the markings that were slowly disappearing under the white bandage.

"What did you think these were for?" Kaeru shot Neji a wry smile as he tapped the back of one finger against the inked skin that was still visible. "I told you, you're not the expert on curses, Neiji — or on cursed seals."

"What is it?"

Neji frowned curiously down at the seals. It was clear that the seals were tied into Kaeru's chakra coils, but Neji had never heard of a seal that contained a completely separate source of chakra tied in with a ninja's own chakra system. And the chakra tied to the seals themselves looked more like poison than anything that would give Kaeru extra strength. Kaeru scoffed softly and kept winding the cloth around his chains.

"I was practically born with a power I didn't ask for," Kaeru said. "And then, when I . . . when it broke, I was only good for dying. So, I decided it would be on my terms. I would die so that someone precious to me could live. 'Cuz I don't give a damn about Fate, Neji, but _that's_ something worth dying for."

Kaeru tied off his bandage just above his elbow and pinned Neji with a sharp look again that made Neji wonder just how close Kaeru was to death. Throughout his life, Neji had never actually felt the effects of the Caged Bird Seal. The threat always loomed over his head, but none of the Main Family members had ever activated the seal on his forehead. He only had the memory of the pain his father had endured that one time. But Kaeru spoke of death and dying as if it was a given reality. As if he were far more familiar with the concept that his seals would kill him than Neji could ever be.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii!"

Naruto burst into the room with Kakashi following close behind. Kaeru ginned widely at the boy as if the grim conversation he had been involved in moments before hadn't even happened. Neji watched Kaeru stand and stride to greet Naruto and wondered how someone who had been given a Fate to die could smile so large.

* * *

"You still practicing, gaki?" Kaeru demanded.

The pace going back to Konoha was a little bit more intense than the journey to Hakui had been. Kakashi had already implied that the team would be taking to running across tree branches as soon as they got far enough away from the town. Kaeru half-suspected that was only because Kakashi was eager to get away from the magistrate, who had spent the morning demanding the Konoha team pay for their night sleeping in his house after his jewel had been stolen in their absence.

But for now, the road still served as their mode of transportation. Walking beside Kaeru, Naruto held up his right hand and demonstrated.

"It's not that easy, Kaeru-nii," he pouted.

There had been no time to train after the debacle with the Kumo nuke-nin and Kakashi's hurry to get out of town. Kaeru had to content himself with making Naruto continue the exercise he had been working on during the journey out. Suddenly, Kaeru got an idea.

"Hold on."

Kaeru stopped and turned to face Naruto, grabbing the upraised hand. Naruto paused and frowned curiously as Kaeru dipped his hand into his bag and withdrew his brush. He unwrapped his ink block just enough to swipe the bristles across the damp surface and took Naruto's hand in his own. Remembering the task of concentrating on a water ball, a balloon, a single leaf that represented the basis of his power, Kaeru curved the tip of the brush across Naruto's palm in a familiar spiral.

"Concentrate on that," ordered the redhead. He stuffed the ink block and brush back into the pack on his back, ignoring the way Naruto stared at his actions instead of the new symbol on his hand.

"Yosh," Naruto muttered finally and fixed his eyes on the swirl on his hand.

"Just don't trip 'cuz you're not looking where you're going." Kaeru smiled as he kept walking down the road.

Yeah, Naruto would get it. However he might mess up everything else, Kaeru had faith in Naruto.

Soon, Naruto was spending so much concentration on his hand that he ceased paying attention to how fast he was walking. His eyes remained fixed on the symbol on his palm as he managed to outpace even Kakashi's position at the head of the troupe on the road. Kaeru glanced up ahead to see Sakura and Sasuke walking just behind Naruto. Sasuke was eying his teammate and sometime-rival as if he half-expected Naruto to stumble over his own two feet. A part of Kaeru's mind wondered if Sasuke would actually dart forward to catch Naruto if that happened. Maybe not yet.

When his eyes relaxed, Kaeru saw Neji, who was walking just behind Lee and Kakashi. He was staring at Kaeru over his shoulder with that super serious gaze that Neji had probably perfected by the time he was five.

"Feeling alright, Neji?" Kaeru asked, fully anticipating a short but positive response because when would the great Hyuuga Neji ever admit to weakness.

"You are marked," Neji said instead.

The strange comment surprised Kaeru so much that he stopped walking and fixed his attention fully on Neji. Neji stopped as well, turning fully to face Kaeru.

"You have been branded as much as I, and yet you . . ."

Kaeru waited, but Neji only frowned up at the older genin, seemingly unable to finish his sentence. Finally, Neji waved one palm behind him.

"You're like Lee," he said in disgust.

Kaeru immediately grinned. He could think of much worse people to be compared to than the proud student of Konoha's Green Beast. Besides, if Neji recognized Lee's positive attitude already then there was hope for Neji's own attitude in the face of circumstances that were just as impossible as Lee's inability to use chakra.

Kaeru realized then what he thought Neji meant. Even if Neji didn't know how much the seals and the Kyuubi's chakra was still affecting Kaeru's body, he recognized at least that Kaeru was dealing with a limitation. Kaeru glanced ahead at Lee, wondering how best to answer. His gaze swept across Kakashi's straight back and took in Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. He smiled.

"It won't always be like this," Kaeru said as he looked back at Neji. "Those who lead the village determine which way the future will go. You were born in the Branch family, but the Head's still your uncle. Soon, it'll be your turn to lead, won't it?"

Kaeru knew Neji would become a leader of men, of his own family, by his sheer strength and skill. Kaeru had seen Neji lead because he had been one of the only Hyuuga left who _could_ lead. He couldn't imagine what Neji could do if given the respect of the entire next generation of Hyuuga, Branch and Main family alike.

Neji followed Kaeru's reminiscent gaze down the road ahead of them both and scoffed softly.

"Inari help us if those are our leaders," he muttered.

Kaeru blinked at Neji and thought of curses from gods and bad luck and then determination and whirlpools and strange abilities to become stronger just because people were relying on you. Then, Kaeru threw back his head and laughed loud and hard, like he hadn't laughed for months. By the time Kaeru ran out of breath and started walking again, Kakashi was looking over his shoulder to see what the commotion was about and Neji wore an expression of extreme discomfort.

"You never know," Kaeru said as he strode past Neji. "Inari just might."

* * *

Sarutobi watched Naruto bound out of the office once he had been handed his mission voucher as a paycheck. The boy didn't even pause as he called over his shoulder to his cousin that he'd meet Kaeru at home. Kaeru shook his head, but he shot the Hokage a cautious glance before he seemed to consider himself dismissed as well. The other genin left with short, respectful bows, Lee walking beside Neji after volunteering to take his teammate to the hospital for a final checkup. Only the team leader remained in the office after the combined teams' report.

But Sarutobi felt he knew why Kakashi hadn't dismissed himself along with his genin.

"Any further discoveries, Kakashi?" Sarutobi tapped dry tobacco leaves down into the bowl of his pipe and reached for a match.

"Kaeru seems unusually protective of his wounds," Kakashi began in a professional tone. "He usually has Naruto bandage his wounds and no one else, but I managed to procure a sample."

Kakashi lifted a gauze pad from his pocket. The cotton was stained with rusty blood, mostly dry. Sarutobi nodded at a blank paper on the edge of his desk. He would deliver the blood sample to the hospital himself later in the day. He knew the testing system at the hospital was not as advanced as a couple of the other hidden villages had — it certainly hadn't been up to Tsunade's standards, but she hadn't had time to work on it before she left. Still, what they had currently should be enough for what Sarutobi wanted to know.

"Naruto also knows the meaning of the term '_jinchuuriki'_ now," Kakashi said as he handed over the bloody gauze. "Kaeru told him."

Sarutobi exhaled, a stream of smoke hissing out from between his lips.

"I did inform Kaeru that Naruto was the host for the Kyuubi," Sarutobi sighed. "A mistake on my part, I admit now."

At the time, all evidence pointed to Kaeru's story being true. His looks, his knowledge of a hidden village that no longer existed, his emotions had all validated his claim of being a former resident of the Uzushiogakure and a relative of Uzumaki Kushina. Now, with every new factoid Kakashi brought to his attention, Sarutobi was beginning to regret his faith in this strange boy and his hope that Naruto had finally caught a break.

"He might have already known about the Kyuubi," Kakashi said abruptly. "Kaeru, I mean."

Sarutobi nodded silently and slowly. When he lifted his gaze to the man in front of his desk again, he found Kakashi's gaze fixed firmly on the portrait of the Yondaime Hokage that was mounted high on the office wall.

"He laughs like sensei," Kakashi murmured. "When he really let go, threw his head back— Kaeru laughs like that."

Sarutobi had nothing to say to that. How could he refute the ghosts of Kakashi's memories and habits that shouldn't exist in anyone Kaeru's age? There was no explanation for the behavior that made any sort of sense.

"I will get the blood tested as quickly as possible," Sarutobi offered, becase that was all he could do.

Kakashi snapped his head away from his old teacher's serious gaze and nodded formally at the Hokage. He turned on his heel and started to exit the office. Just as Sarutobi had leaned back and taken a deep breath of the pipe smoke in an effort to relax, Kakashi paused and glanced over his shoulder.

"One more thing," he began. "The jutsu Kaeru used to take out the _nuke-nin_ . . .. I didn't see the full jutsu, but I saw the body afterward, the effect Kaeru had on the nuke-nin. The wound looked like it had been inflicted by Rasengan."

* * *

A/N: Okay, so this chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated, which is going to be my excuse for it being also later than I anticipated. But on the plus side, it's finals week, which means I have chunks of free time when I'm not packing and taking exams. Hopefully this will speed along the next chapter.

That and the fact that I'm out of the short little filler arc, and now I get to start peeling apart Kaeru's fake story in the presence of very smart people.

Oh, Kakashi, what have you seen?

'Til next month,

Fia


	22. Chapter 22

Kusunoki Akira was almost ready to close up his shop for the night and go home to his wife; there might even be the chance for some saké heated up to sip on. But then the bell above his door jingled softly, signaling the entrance of one last customer.

"Hey, Akira-_san_," the large man with white, spiky hair called out. "Are you ready for my latest creation?"

Akira only shook his head and ducked behind the counter to retrieve a tightly rolled scroll with no markings on it.

"You have a message, Jiraiya-_san_," he said as he held out the scroll to the large man.

"Already?" Jiraiya looked surprised, but he stepped forward to accept the scroll. "I didn't expect the old man to send something."

"A team from Konoha was in here yesterday," Akira answered as Jiraiya slid the scroll open and peered at the contents. "I recognized Sharingan no Kakashi. He had a whole bunch of kids with him, though."

Akira had been a little surprised at the kids. Usually messages passed through his store by way of brightly colored toads that had a tendency to ask Akira for treats — they especially liked candy. Akira glanced up to his guest to ask why the darn polliwags had been absent this time, but then he noticed Jiraiya's stone-faced look as he studied the open scroll.

"Bad news, Jiraiya-_san_?" he asked.

Jiraiya looked up, a wry smile creasing the corners of his mouth.

"Apparently I'm going home early."

* * *

Naruto jogged up to the red bridge that crossed over the small stream. It was kind of a pointless bridge, since the ninja of the village could leap across the stream with no trouble, but Naruto supposed they had to put something up for the Academy students who weren't at _his_ level yet. Oh, and the civilians. And maybe the older people in the village who couldn't get around too easily . . .

Oh, forget it.

As Naruto approached the bridge, he saw Sakura crossing the bridge, heading in the direction Naruto had just come from.

"Sakura-_chan_?" Naruto blinked in surprise. He hadn't been searching for his teammates at all. "Where are you going?"

She looked like she was ready for a mission, with her long hair pulled back into a tie at the base of her neck. Her shuriken holster was tied to her leg, but it was jammed with short scrolls instead of weapons.

"Reiko-_sensei_ at the hospital said I could follow her around for the day if I didn't get in her way," Sakura said with a pleased grin. "See you later!"

Dazed, Naruto raised a hand and waved back at Sakura's back as she threw a brief wave over her shoulder while jogging down the packed dirt road. At least she had said good-bye to him; that was more than Sakura ever used to do when they had bumped into each other.

"What'd you come out here for, _dobe_?" drawled a voice from behind Naruto.

Naruto spun around and glared at Sasuke. Sasuke, for his part, looked remarkably unbothered by the hatred, keeping his pose of slouching up against the large tree on the other side of the bridge while he kept his hands in his pockets.

"We have a free day," Sasuke told Naruto as if Naruto couldn't figure it out himself.

"I know that, _teme_," growled Naruto. They always had a free day right after they got back from a mission. "I was looking for Kaeru. He wasn't in the apartment this morning."

That had been weird. Naruto had wanted to give Kaeru the new set of _fude_ he had bought right away that morning, but Kaeru hadn't been in the apartment when Naruto woke up. So far, Kaeru wasn't at the Hokage Tower, the Memorial Field, Ichiraku Ramen, or the bridge where Team Seven so frequently met.

"Why would he be here?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Shut up." Naruto clenched his fists and scowled. "Why are _you_ here?"

He at least had an excuse, thinking that Kaeru might have though he was supposed to meet with Team Seven that morning. Kearu was still a little new to Konoha, so maybe he didn't know the rules yet.

_ "Oi." _

Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the familiar voice and saw Kaeru making his lazy way up toward the red bridge.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do than team meetings?" Kaeru smirked at the two boys.

"Kaeru-nii!" Naruto bounded up to stand in front of Kaeru. "Where'd you go?"

"You were out of groceries this morning." Kaeru jerked one thumb over his shoulder toward the town of Konoha. "I couldn't even make breakfast, so I had to go shopping."

Naruto didn't see why that was such a big deal. He had forgotten to eat in his hurry to find Kaeru, but Kaeru could've just had some of his instant ramen that morning.

"What are you guys doing?" Kaeru asked as his gaze flickered over to Sasuke. "Where's Sakura-_chan_?"

"She said she was gonna follow some _sensei_ at the hospital," Naruto blurted, glad he had an answer to Kaeru's question.

"Really?" Kaeru looked surprised for a moment, but then he smiled. "Good for her."

Naruto smiled along with Kaeru and laced his fingers together behind his head. It was like his whole team was getting stronger now.

"Hey, since she's getting a full day of learning, how 'bout we train, too?"

"Yeah!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air enthusiastically.

"_Pfft_." Sasuke made a noise through his lips behind Naruto. "What are you gonna do? Wait until he picks you up and headbutt him?"

"Hey." Naruto's expression changed from joyful to annoyed in a heartbeat as he spun around to face Sasuke. That headbutt thing had only happened once, and that was because Naruto was practicing his improvisation.

But then Kaeru-nii chuckled and laid one hand on the top of Naruto's head as he crossed the bridge and headed for the green training area.

"Well, let's go then," Kaeru called.

Naruto stuck out his tongue at Kaeru's back, but he followed anyway. If training along with Sasuke was the pride he had to pay for training with his brother, then Naruto wouldn't complain too much. Besides, when it came to having someone strong to train with — someone that would make him stronger just by having a high goal to aim for — Sasuke wasn't that bad.

* * *

"Hey, old man," Jiraiya called from the window of the Hokage Tower. "What's the rush? I was coming back in a week anyway."

His position, crouched on a windowsill in the tall red building, was more nostalgic than anything. After all, Sarutobi-_sensei_ had become Hokage even before his team had been awarded the label of the Dentatsu no Sannin. Jiraiya had popped through this window many times before, back when the village had been his main home instead of just a stopping point between his information-gathering missions.

Sarutobi-_sensei_ rose from his wooden chair slowly and reached for something on his desk. Every time Jiraiya returned to Konoha, the man seemed to have aged by at least another five years. He didn't quite like seeing his _sensei_ so hindered by the regular aches and pains of humanity. Jiraiya dropped from the windowsill and met Sarutobi at the corner of his desk so the man didn't have to walk all the way to the window.

"What can you tell me about this seal?" Sarutobi asked as he handed Jiraiya a square piece of paper.

Jiraiya frowned down at the example of fuuinjutsu and then lifted his brows, impressed despite himself. The seal was large enough to need a much bigger canvas than the small square paper that he held. A series of rings dotted either side of the paper one way, like the east and west points of a compass. Going in the opposite direction were lines that would have traced all the chakra points on a torso, as if the seal was meant to overlay someone's chest.

"This is complicated," Jiraiya admitted. "It involves tying down someone's chakra, making it impossible for them to channel chakra properly. Might even cut them off from any attempt to use ninjutsu."

Jiraiya couldn't imagine the seal being used in a situation where the victim wasn't either dying or deliberately being placed in a coma. He frowned up at his old _sensei_.

"Do you have a prisoner I don't know about?"

Jiriaya hoped the answer was a negative. The only _nuke-nin_ Konoha had that warranted this level of security were all the ones Jiraiya would not want to meet. Sarutobi sank back in his chair and clamped his wooden pipe between his teeth.

"That seal was redrawn from Takahashi-_sensei's_ memory after he saw it on a patient we had here about three months ago," answered the Hokage. "The patient claimed to be related to the Uzumaki clan."

"That clan died out," Jiraiya retorted immediately, instinctively. "The village was utterly destroyed in the war."

Jiraiya didn't want to remember the refugees Konoha had taken in because of Uzushiogakure's destruction — people that looked just as ragged and hopeless as those damn kids had in Ame.

"Yes," Sarutobi murmured. "A chuunin scouting team found the young man in the forest, badly beaten. Takahashi-_sensei_ informed me of his seals when he was brought to Konoha. Upon waking, he claimed his name was Uzumaki Kaeru and he was looking for a family member, Uzumaki Kushina."

"Kushina?"

Claiming to be from the former Village Hidden in the Whirlpool was bad enough, but to pretend he was a relative of Kushina?

"Kushina didn't have any family left." Jiraiya shook his head.

Even as he said it, though, Jiraiya knew that had been the popular theory rather than anything proven. Even into adulthood, Kushina had always maintained some hope that other members of her clan had escaped her homeland's destruction. Jiraiya could still remember Minato wondering if he could use his ninja as Hokage to search for his wife's family. Once the war was over and the world had peace, of course.

Jiraiya's eyes flicked down to the seal again. It was easier to study something within his specialty than remember the last time he had said good-bye to his favorite student. Jiraiya had never been a man afraid of memories — not like Tsunade — but there was no point dwelling too deeply on things that couldn't be changed. As his eyes idly passed over the inked markings, he saw a spiral at the center of the seal. It looked remarkably like the Dead Demon Seal.

"What is this seal for?" he asked, abruptly waving the piece of paper in front of him.

"Kaeru said that the seals were keeping him alive, although we haven't had anyone qualified to look over them," the Sandaime admitted.

He sounded tired. Jiraiya could at least understand the reason behind that delay. Since Minato's and Kushina's deaths, Jiraiya had become the only Konoha shinobi who specialized in fuuinjutsu.

"So you want me to?" Jiraiya prodded. "Why wait so long?"

"The evidence . . . supported his story." Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes. "I truly believed he was part of the Uzumaki clan."

"What changed?"

Something had to have changed, otherwise Sarutobi-_sensei_ wouldn't sound so defeated, like he had made a mistake in believing this Uzumaki Kaeru.

The Hokage's eyes lifted to Jiraiya, staring at his former student unflinching. Silently, Sarutobi used one wrinkled hand to push a plain manila folder in front of him across his desk and within Jiraiya's reach. Growing slightly apprehensive, Jiraiya picked up the folder and flipped it open. His eyes scanned across the top label of a blood test and reached the names of the two samples.

Only when Sarutobi _humph_-ed in agreement did Jiraiya realize how far his eyes were bugging out of his head. He looked at Sarutobi, aghast.

"This is impossible. How—"

"You can ask him when he arrives," Sarutobi said firmly, his voice iron despite his tired appearance. "Hatake Kakashi and his team have been paired with Uzumaki Kaeru for their last few missions. Kakashi has seen evidence to support the test results."

"Like what?" Jiraiya demanded.

Sarutobi told him.

* * *

Kakashi wasn't a chakra sensor by nature, but he was a tracker. So, when Kaeru and Naruto hadn't been in the ratty apartment they shared, it was a simple process to follow their scents to the red bridge on the edge of the training field where Team Seven usually met up. Once across the bridge, Kakashi could hear more clearly the obvious sounds of a fight: grunts, pained groans, and the clash of metal against metal.

He forced himself to walk calmly past the trees to the green of the training field.

"I gotcha, _teme_!" crowed a triumphant voice with the high tones of a boy who hadn't quite grown up yet.

Standing on the opposite end of the field as the fist-pumping Naruto, Sasuke wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, leaving behind an obvious bruise that would likely turn into a swollen lip.

"Lucky shot, _dobe_," grumbled the last Uchiha.

"Okay, point to Naruto for the hit," said a more mature voice. "Score is now tied at two."

Kakashi raised his eyes to one of the larger trees within Konoha, just behind where Naruto stood. Kaeru was perched on the underside of the lowest branch, hanging upside down with his hands in his pockets. He was grinning with his eyes nearly scrunched shut.

"He's catching up to you, Uchiha-_chan_," Kaeru goaded the boy.

Sasuke seemed to take offense, digging the balls of his feet into the ground in preparation to charge. Naruto was still bouncing around beneath the tree where Kaeru watched, while Sasuke twirled a knife in his hand and aimed right for Naruto's oblivious face.

Suddenly, Naruto pinwheeled his arms out to his sides, tilting to the right side as if he were off balance. But his left hand grabbed Sasuke's outstretched wrist as the Uchiha attacked, and Naruto pulled Sasuke down. Rolling across his shoulders in a kind of backward somersault, Naruto forced Sasuke's clenched hand to the ground, driving the kunai into the dirt, and then connected the bottom of his foot with Sasuke's chin. But Sasuke twisted the lower half of his body, giving up on any attempts at a graceful landing, and sank his own foot into Naruto's side.

Naruto grunted and fell the rest of the way to his side as Sasuke dropped his hold on his kunai in order to place both hands over his throbbing mouth. Kaeru's feet came away from the underside of the tree branch, and he flipped over to land softly beside the two boys.

"I think we'll call that a draw," he announced.

Naruto was the first to get back to his feet.

"Aw, c'mon, Kaeru-nii," he complained. "We can't leave it there."

"Then at least pause long enough to say hi to Kakashi-_sensei_." Kaeru reached down and ruffled the boy's hair.

Kaeru turned to face Kakashi, who wasn't that surprised that the young man had sensed him. He had displayed that talent before, but Kakashi hadn't really thought anything of it. But now, what the Hokage had told him seemed to cast everything in a different light.

Naruto brushed himself off and stood a little straighter as Kakashi approached the group. Sasuke pushed himself to his feet, but he kept the pads of his fingers against the corner of his mouth.

"You want to join us, Kakashi-_sensei_?" Kaeru asked with a large grin. "We're going to Ichiraku's after this."

"Who decided that?" grumbled Sasuke.

Naruto lunged for Sasuke and aimed his knuckles for the top of Sasuke's head. Kakashi wasn't entirely sure if that was a better reaction that Naruto's usual one of simply screaming at Sasuke. But he wasn't here as a teacher. Not with his current mission.

"Actually, the Hokage would like to see you as soon as possible, Kaeru-_kun_," he said, making sure to smile in that carefree way that would crinkle the edges of his mask.

"Nothing wrong, I hope." Kaeru frowned at Kakashi, but the undertones were all worry, not suspicion.

Kakashi stared at snapping blue eyes and felt a familiar twinge to confess to his _sensei_ and have the man fix everything.

"I'm sure not," Kakashi said, deliberately making his tone reassuring. "I think it's something he needs cleared up."

Kaeru tilted his head slightly as he stared at Kakashi, and suddenly he looked more like Naruto's brother than Kakashi's _sensei_. Then Kaeru shrugged.

"All right. I guess he wants me there now?"

Kakashi only nodded with a small hum. Kaeru lifted one hand from his pocket and waved at Naruto and Sasuke, who were still tussling on the grass. Kakashi thought he saw Sasuke try to grab a handful of Naruto's hair to pull.

"I'm leaving now," Kaeru called despite all appearances that no one was listening to him. "Be good, kids."

Naruto and Sasuke separated abruptly, with Sasuke scrambling to his feet while Naruto sat back on his heels with his knees spread out like a fan in front of him.

"See ya later, Kaeru-nii!" Naruto called. "C'mon, Sasuke-_teme_. Three-to-three."

Sasuke grunted some form of agreement and planted his feet in a defensive stance three meters away from Naruto. Kaeru turned away first and started toward the Hokage Tower with Kakashi following quickly after.

"I think they'll be okay," Kaeru said fondly.

Kakashi looked sideways at the young man with red hair. He had snuck a peek at the results of the blood test when the Hokage had ordered Kakashi to retrieve Kaeru and bring him to the office. Now, those results seemed to color his view of Kaeru whenever he looked at the young man beside him.

"Are you really seventeen?" Kakashi asked.

Kaeru turned and gave Kakashi a funny look, like Kakashi was suddenly being stupid when that wasn't expected of him. Kakashi's jaw clenched beneath his mask as Kaeru quirked an eyebrow curiously.

"Yeah, I'm really seventeen," he said. "Why?"

"When's your birthday?" Kakashi asked instead of answering.

Kaeru suddenly looked away, keeping his eyes on the dirt road in front of him. Kakashi saw the young man's shoulders rise protectively.

"October tenth," Kaeru said shortly. "Same as Naruto's."

Kakashi plugged that tidbit into his brain alongside all the other information he had about the young man calling himself Uzumaki Kaeru. Kakashi already had his own theories as to how the boy had come into being, ranging everywhere from cloning to an affair during the war — although he didn't really want to think that of his _sensei_.

But Kakashi hadn't had a connection like this for twelve years. He certainly hadn't allowed himself to be this optimistic in about that length of time. Considering whose blood Kaeru shared, Kakashi was aware that he could be a creation of an enemy. He didn't know who had this kind of power — Orochimaru, maybe — but Kaeru could still be a sleeper agent with the express intent to destroy Konoha.

Kakashi hadn't been this desperate for hope since he had seen his own teammate buried alive under the falling rocks of Iwa.

* * *

Kaeru trudged up the steps of Hokage Tower with Kakashi beside him, wishing he wasn't getting such special treatment. As much fun as it was to walk beside Kakashi-_sensei_ again, Kaeru had no idea why the Hokage wanted to see him so badly. Normally, he probably wouldn't have paid it any overdue attention, but Kakashi had been very silent on the walk over. The tense-and-waiting kind of silent.

Kaeru hoped the man wasn't planning a surprise birthday party or anything.

Kakashi paused outside the double doors to the Hokage Office to let Kaeru through first. Kaeru ducked in the door, feeling Kakashi following over his shoulder.

"Hokage-_sama_," Kaeru greeted as soon as he was in the office, "you . . . wanted to see me?"

Kaeru's eyes drifted up to the tall man standing beside Sandaime's desk. Long white locks spiked in every direction and then cascaded down the man's back as he folded his arms over his chest and stood like a carved statue. A faint part of Kaeru's mind that was still capable of thought hoped his mouth wasn't hanging open.

"Yes." The Hokage lifted a hand to indicate the man beise the desk. "This is my former student, Jiraiya."

"Uh-huh," Kaeru answered absently.

He forced his eyes away from his godfather and back to the Hokage, hoping this was a routine stop and the old man wouldn't notice how weird he was acting. Maybe Kaeru could just chalk his bug-eyed look up to awe at meeting one of the Dentestu no Sannin. But the Sandaime had folded his hands in front of him and was staring at Kaeru with a supremely serious look.

Then, a blue glow caught Kaeru's eye, and he looked back at Jiraiya to see the man holding his right hand out, palm up and fingers curled as if he was grasping a ball. Threads of blue chakra swirled around each other and gathered in Jiraiya's palm in a pattern that was _very_ familiar to Kaeru.

_Oh, shit_.

"You know this jutsu," Jiraiya stated. There was no question in his voice.

"Why should I?" Kaeru lifted his chin, trying desperately not to show the way his heart had started beating faster.

"Because I saw you perform it in the cave against the Kumo-nin," Kakashi murmured almost in his ear.

Kaeru stiffened and froze, but he didn't allow himself to jerk away or look behind him.

"You and your stupid eyes, Kakashi-_sensei_." He almost hissed his words out.

Kaeru could still feel Kakashi's attention on his back, like feeling a predator watching him. He should have guessed that the Rasengan would get him into trouble. Kaeru was pretty sure Neji hadn't said anything; he had no reason to. But Kakashi had been too attentive. It was just so easy to recall that jutsu. It used to be the one jutsu that he was proud of. After all, he had mastered it in a week, and he knew almost every way it could be used. When he so naturally turned to it again, feeling strength flood his veins in a way it hadn't in months, Kaeru thought he would at least be safe from Kakashi's prying eye.

"Kakashi was also able to procure a sample of your blood during your last mission," said Sarutobi, drawing Kaeru's attention back to the Hokage.

Jiraiya had released his hold on his Rasengan and was once again staring coldly at Kaeru. He tried to ignore the way his heart felt like it was shrinking in his chest at seeing his mentor gazing at him like he was an enemy. Instead, he focused on the paper folder the Hokage held up. Kaeru hadn't paid much attention to the wound on his arm, mostly because he knew it had healed so quickly. He had tended to it himself ever since Sakura had first wrapped it, and Sakura hadn't thought to be suspicious enough of him to save his blood.

Kakashi apparently was, though.

"We ran some tests," Sarutobi continued. "It seems your blood is a partial match to someone very important to Konoha."

Kaeru frowned at that particular revelation.

"Only partial?" He didn't think he had changed _that _much from who he was that his very blood had mutated from Uzumaki Naruto's.

"Cut the crap," Jiraiya snapped, his voice just as hard as his stance. "How were you created?"

Kaeru blinked at the man and for a moment saw Jiraiya as he remembered him: as a laughing pervert rather than a dangerous shinobi. Then, trying to think of a suitable answer to the question of his birth, Kaeru could only think of the time when Jiraiya had explained with no inhibitions what amorous men and women do with each other.

Suddenly, Kaeru threw back his head and laughed.

"You need _me_ to tell you that, _ero-sennin_?" he demanded.

"_Ero . . . sennin_?" Jiraiya repeated slowly.

The confusion in Jiraiya's voice calmed Kaeru down faster than the heat he still felt on the back of his neck from Kakashi's presence behind him. Although knowing that his former _sensei_ was staring at him like an enemy instead of a student didn't really help.

"Jiraiya is a master of _fuuinjutsu_." The Hokage seemed content to let the silly nickname go in the light of more pressing records. "He looked at the records we have of your seals."

"You have records?" gasped Kaeru.

No one was supposed to have records of that. Kaeru didn't want anyone knowing how to make a normal human into someone like him. For one thing, no matter what, Kaeru now had less power than he used to before the Kyuubi had been resealed.

"From what I've seen, those seals of yours are holding back chakra," Jiraiya said. "A lot of chakra."

Jiraiya let his eyes wander over Kaeru's body, sizing up the teenager as Kaeru forced himself to stay still under the scrutiny.

"Since you're not dropping dead right now, I think you have a completely separate chakra source within you, and those seals are meant to hold it back," Jiraiya said with his arms folded across his chest. "I thought Minato had secured the yang chakra of the fox when he sealed it. But then you show up."

"Me?" Kaeru tapped himself on the chest, a little self-consciously. This questioning was not going well, and Kaeru still didn't know what Sandaime and Jiraiya were really thinking.

"You have the blood of Namikaze Minato and the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune," Kakashi said coldly. "And now you're training Konoha's _jinchuuriki_."

"Don't call him that," Kaeru snapped automatically. He had always hated that word. "Wait. Minato?"

Kakashi's words finally sunk into his mind. The blood of Namikaze Minato? Kaeru glanced at Kakashi's cold glare before he stared at the Hokage again, wide-eyed and confused.

"You tested me against the Yondaime? Why?"

That would explain why the test showed only a partial match, but it didn't explain why Sandaime had chosen someone already dead rather than the person Kaeru thought he had more in common with.

"You were obvious," sneered Kakashi. "Did you really think we wouldn't find out?"

"Yes!" Kaeru cried out as he spun around to face Kakashi. "And how was I obvious?"

He thought he had done a pretty good job at looking like a random shinobi from a country that had been destroyed. It wasn't that hard since that was basically his state of being anyway.

"You know the Rasengan," Kakashi listed. "Your natural chakra is Fuuton. And your eyes snap just like _his_ when he was serious."

Kaeru felt the corners of his mouth lift ever so slightly.

"Really?" Kaeru asked, somewhat hopefully.

Even though Kakashi had told him about his parents originally, Kaeru's former _sensei_ had only said that Uzumaki Naruto acted more like his mother than his father. But that didn't change the fact that Yondaime had always been Kaeru's hero, even when his name had been Naruto instead.

Kakashi looked angry at Kaeru's sudden hope. The jounin jerked forward suddenly as if he was going to attack Kaeru.

"You are _not_ Minato-_sensei_." Kakashi's voice was low, practically a growl for a soldier who never lost his hip attitude.

"I know that!" Kaeru scowled as he jerked forward himself, hovering an inch away from Kakashi's glare. "You tested the wrong person!"

"Who were we supposed to test?" asked Jiraiya, who sounded a lot calmer now that Kakashi had taken on the role of aggressor.

Kaeru looked over his shoulder, trusting that Kakashi wouldn't really start anything when Kaeru wasn't actively attacking.

"Uzumaki Naruto," said Kaeru.

* * *

After his talk with Jiraiya, there were many defenses and even more explanations Hiruzen had been expecting from the boy who called himself Uzumaki Kaeru. Jiraiya was already tending towards believing that Minato himself had created a failsafe within the seal he had used against the Kyuubi. A part of Hiruzen was afraid that his once-student Orochimaru had been able to gather some of Minato's blood and use it for his own purposes.

Among all the possibilities, however, Hiruzen was not expecting this one.

"Naruto?" he repeated.

Kaeru turned to fully face the Hokage desk and smiled a little sheepishly.

"I don't think I've changed that much, Hokage-_jiji_." Kaeru suddenly lifted one hand to his head and pulled a lock of short, red hair away from his forehead. "Apart from the hair."

"You can't have been created from Naruto's DNA," Kakashi said, stepping out from behind Kaeru's back to see his face.

"I wasn't created. I was born," Kaeru retorted, shooting a brief frown at Kakashi.

At first, Hiruzen thought that Kaeru's mind had been twisted beyond what he initially thought. Perhaps the boy really did believe that he had had a normal life or at least a normal birth. Or perhaps some of Hiruzen's worst fears were untrue. Perhaps the boy truly wasn't a freak of nature or a product of some sick twisted biological combination.

Kaeru faced the Hokage again, and his eyes were just as determined as Naruto's always were when the boy had declared that he would someday be in Hiruzen's seat.

"I was born the son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina," Kaeru declared.

Hiruzen could almost feel all higher brain functions cease while he tried to process _that_ particular revelation.

"That's impossible," Jiraiya said with a deep frown creasing his forehead. "You're too old."

Kaeru's head sank as he passed the palm of his hand across the back of his neck.

"I know," admitted the teenager. "I messed up."

He lifted his eyes again, displaying the most hope Hiruzen had seen from him since the boy first appeared before him looking for a lost family member.

"But I am Naruto," Kaeru said then shrugged. "Or a version of him at least. The only difference is I've lived longer."

"How is that possible?" Hiruzen asked, determined to keep calm.

Kaeru hadn't displayed any violent tendencies. He didn't even act as if he was feeling threatened. The young man just lifted his hands so they were in full view of both Hiruzen and Kakashi.

"There was a seal Kakashi-_sensei_ showed me." Kaeru traced a few squiggling characters through the air that Hiruzen couldn't follow. "It was supposed to freeze time, but I think I did something wrong. The seal transported me backwards in time instead."

_Time-travel?_ Hiruzen knew there were certain jutsu that could bend the laws of time and space. Minato himself was the most talented any of the Five Countries had seen in the arena of space-time ninjutsu, but even the _Hiraishin_ was a way to bypass space, but not time. It was, at its heart, a transportation jutsu. Hiruzen had heard theories that certain jutsu could bend the laws of both; rumors said that some of the top-secret techniques within the Uchiha Clan had the abilities to transcend time, but they were just rumors.

"When I used that seal," continued Kaeru, "I had lived for seventeen years."

Kaeru was facing the Hokage now, but Hiruzen wondered what the boy was truly seeing. His eyes were hooded, his gaze falling somewhere close to where Hiruzen's hand resting on the top of the desk.

"I saw Sandaime die," the young man said in a deadened voice. "Jiraiya, Tsunade-_baa-chan_, Kakashi-_sensei_, Sakura-_chan_, Sasuke. Konoha wasn't even Konoha anymore."

Hiruzen watched the hardened attitude of a soldier at war and believed him.

"Kyuubi escaped once," Kaeru continued.

Jiraiya gave a sudden movement, halting before Hiruzen could tell if his student was about to dart forward or simply shocked by Kaeru's words.

"That's how Kakashi died," Kaeru said without lifting his eyes to the jounin beside him. "He gave his life with the _Shiki Fuuin_ to seal it back into me because I would've died without it. I might die anyway."

Kaeru's head slowly came up, then, and his eyes fell directly on Jiraiya.

"You were right, _ero-sennin_," he said. "The Yondaime only sealed the Kyuubi's yin chakra in the _Shiki Fuuin_. But I had to take all of it before I was ready for it."

The young man held up his hands as if in surrender. The bandages around his forearms looked pristinely white in comparison to his dark shirt.

"These seals are supposed to hold it back. But they're not going to last." Kaeru smiled a sad, sad smile. "Can you tell what will happen when they break, _ero-sennin_?"

Hiruzen _knew_ he saw Jiraiya jerk at that smile.

"Enough." The Hokage commanded.

Even he could guess at what would happen if seals that strong and holding back what Kaeru claimed — if they broke, having that much _youki_ flowing through a body, even one accustomed to holding a _bijuu_ . . .

"Have you any proof of what you say?" asked Hiruzen.

He _needed_ to know if Kaeru was telling the truth. Because if he wasn't, then he was a very accomplished liar, and Hiruzen hated the part of him that thought Kaeru could be spinning a story just to gain sympathy. Kaeru shrugged helplessly.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. "You can test my blood against Naruto's. It should be a perfect match, if Kyuubi hasn't screwed up my DNA. My hair changed after the second sealing."

He ran his fingers through short, red hair. Hiruzen thought the boy really did look like an Uzumaki with that hair.

"I could tell you how Orochimaru plans to attack during the Chuunin Exams next week," Kaeru continued, "but you'd have to wait to see that happen."

Hiruzen noted the reference to the upcoming event and almost shook at the thought that his village could be in danger. The fact that it was from his former student just made the whole situation worse. Hiruzen couldn't even think of what he would do if Kaeru's story ended up being true. The boy acted like he came from a world of nightmares, and this was supposed to be the fate of his beloved home?

"You gave me the toad contract when I was training for the Exams." Kaeru lifted his eyes to Jiraiya as if he had just remembered. "I managed to summon Gamabunta, but after that I only got his sons, Gamakichi and Gamatsatu. Tsatu won't do anything unless you give him a treat."

Jiraiya nodded absently; Hiruzen wondered if Jiraiya was even aware he was doing it. But Hiruzen himself could remember Jiraiya complaining about the Toad Boss's sons and their reluctance to be used as messengers during Jiraiya's intelligence gathering missions. The Hokage looked back at Kaeru just in time to catch the young man's hopeful gaze.

"I promise I'm real, _O-jiji_," Kaeru vowed with a tentative smile. "I never go back on my word."

He sounded very much like Hiruzen supposed Naruto would if he was a bit older. Hiruzen raised a hand in a silent signal to his watchers. Two masked ANBU dropped down from the shadows, one on either side of Kaeru. The young man's arms were immediately secured behind his back.

"Hey!" Kaeru jerked instinctively, fighting for a moment against his captors.

"You'll be taken to a secure place until we can verify your story," explained Hiruzen.

Kaeru stared openly at Hiruzen, his eyes wide with shock and betrayal. But then, suddenly, the hurt look slid off the young man's face, and he appeared only resigned. Kaeru nodded and let his chin sink closer to his chest with each nod, as if his head was too heavy for him to support. Hiruzen could have flinched at how broken the boy appeared, but this was necessary for the protection of his village.

The Sandaime Hokage waved the ANBU away, but suddenly Kaeru's head snapped up again.

"Don't tell Naruto," said Kaeru.

Then the ANBU disappeared in the smoky haze of a transportation jutsu. Hiruzen's office was silent.

"Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" Jiraiya said, his voice genuinely contemplative. "I guess I'll be paying the brat a visit, then."

"Not yet," Hiruzen commanded.

As much as he knew Jiraiya wanted to see Naruto — it was clear in the way the toad sage was already shifting to the balls of his feet — Hiruzen didn't want to see Naruto scared out of his wits by Jiraiya's strange manner. Especially when his brother-figure had just been taken away on suspicion of treason.

"Kakashi can procure a clean sample of Naruto's blood to run another test," Hiruzen said, the statement already a command for the jounin still in the room.

Kakashi didn't respond verbally. He didn't even give a lazy, hip wave. Hiruzen hadn't seen Kakashi hold himself so stiffly for years, not since the jounin had still been in ANBU.

"And Kakashi," Hiruzen called quickly. "There is no need to tell Naruto why Kaeru won't be home for dinner."

Kakashi gave a short nod and exit in a swirl of leaves. Hiruzen sighed and refused to meet Jiraiya's sharp gaze. Despite Hiruzen's policy of not succumbing to the demands of terrorists, nuke-nin, or traitors, Hiruzen knew he would give in the Kaeru's request to keep Naruto in the dark. Even if Kaeru had been the one to ask it, Hiruzen didn't want to break Naruto's faith that way.

* * *

Naruto adjusted the brushes on his kitchen table one more time. The set had cost him more than half of the paycheck he had received from his last mission, but he thought it was worth it. The two _fude_ were clean and ready to use. They were stained or frayed at all like Kaeru-nii's brushes. The set had even come with a wooden block to hold the ink. The wood was dark and oiled smooth, with a groove in the center of the block that Naruto had run his fingers over at least a dozen times.

He hadn't bought any ink because he wasn't sure what kind to get. He didn't think Kaeru-nii used regular ink for his seals, and there had been ink in that special store that advertised itself in bold letters as shinobi ink. Naruto had asked what that meant, but the shopkeeper had glared at him and then launched into an explanation of chakra and resonance and other stuff that Naruto hadn't understood in the slightest. Plus, the special shinobi ink was really pricey, and Naruto didn't think he had enough money for the brushes and the wooden block _and _the ink and still have enough leftover for his part of the rent. But he thought Kaeru-nii would be happy with the brushes.

After both Naruto and Sasuke were too exhausted to continue their training — and it _was_ training, no matter what the bastard said — Naruto had come right home (after five bowls of ramen at Ichiraku's because he was hungry) and cleaned off the kitchen table so that the brushes would be the first thing Kaeru saw when he got home from his meeting with the Hokage.

It was getting kinda late, and Naruto wondered if he should start making something to eat for supper. He jumped up and started rummaging through the kitchen cupboards. Kaeru-nii had said that he bought groceries, but usually Kaeru did the cooking himself. He was slowly teaching Naruto, too, but so far Naruto's best dish was instant ramen. Finally, Naruto found some miso by the fridge and jumped back down to the floor. He could make miso soup, at least! That was pretty easy.

Naruto started pulling vegetables and some tofu out of the fridge as he planned. When Kaeru-nii came home, the first thing he would see would be his new brushes. And then, once he had thanked Naruto and Naruto had brushed him off ('cuz that was what guys did), they would sit down for supper, and Naruto would get to tell about how he had beaten Sasuke after Kaeru had gone away. Sasuke probably would say that he won their point game, but there were at least two times that didn't count because Naruto was sure that noogies were good for at least one point. Maybe two since Sasuke had such a bad reaction to them. Naruto snickered and guessed that Sasuke's weak point would end up being his stupid duck-butt hair. Served the guy right.

Naruto looked out the window as he cut the vegetables. The sun was setting and Kaeru-nii wasn't home yet. It wasn't a _big_ deal, Naruto told himself. But he was really looking forward to giving Kaeru the new brushes. He glanced at the kitchen table, just to make sure the brushes hadn't moved since he had last looked. Kaeru would be home soon enough, Naruto supposed. In the meantime, he had to get supper ready. Kaeru-nii was gonna be so surprised.

* * *

A/N: By getting this done during the weekend, I got this chapter done one week before I thought I would. I have also realized that this whole revelation/truth of Kaeru's origins is going to take a little longer than I anticipated. But I really want to have everything I need set up before we get to the Chuunin Exams.

(I'm also kinda hoping the Chuunin Exams won't take as long in this fic as they did in the actual manga. Kashimoto does know how to draw out a battle.)

This chapter (and the last one), I had a lot of fun with suspicious!Kakashi. He's really a fun character, and we don't get to see a lot of him in regular anime. Too many secondary characters vying for position, I suppose.

Until next time,

Fia


	23. Chapter 23

Kakashi hovered on the edge of the roof of the apartment building that was mostly dimmed and asleep for the night. For some reason his breathing felt stifled, and the fabric on his neck was damp with sweat. He hadn't been so nervous for such a simple assignment since he had been a genin and newly assigned to the jounin Namikaze Minato.

Which was unfair because that thought brought up a quagmire of others.

Kaeru wasn't Minato-sensei. He wasn't even a clone of Minato-sensei like Kakashi had started believing despite himself. Had he been that desperate to see even a ghost of his _sensei_ again?

And what did it mean that he saw that much of his _sensei_ in his student?

Or at least what might be his student. Kakashi wasn't completely sure how to take Kaeru's confession. With a deep breath, Kakashi jumped from the roof and landed softly on the windowsill to Naruto's apartment. Balancing around the various potted plants, Kakashi worked at opening the window carefully. He was going to have to have a talk with Naruto about the importance of keeping his windows locked. It was too easy to break into a house in a shinobi village.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto jumped into the open sitting room as soon as Kakashi entered the apartment. The boy made a point to look over Kakashi's shoulder and out the window as if he was expecting more company.

"Where's Kaeru-nii?" Naruto demanded. "You took him to Hokage-jiji for something, didn't you? Is he back yet?"

Kakashi glanced past Naruto to the kitchen, where two bowls of what smelled like miso sat on the table, right next to a set of well-manicured brushes. Kakashi turned away so he wouldn't have to look at the homey scene.

"Ah, sorry, Naruto," he said. "The Hokage needed Kaeru for something specific. I don't think he'll be back yet tonight."

Naruto's face fell in a decided pout. Kakashi would almost believe that Naruto was just upset that things weren't going his way in training, like Kakashi had seen him do when Sasuke did better than him. It would be pouting — if Naruto's whole body hadn't slumped along with his lower lip.

"That's not fair," Naruto muttered as he turned.

The fact that Naruto turned away — an instinctive, boyish reaction to prevent someone from seeing his hurt — made Kakashi wonder if Naruto frequently acted childishly to cover real hurt. He had noticed Naruto's apparent immaturity when he had first met his team, but he had chalked that up to a lack of role models or even having Kushina's blood in him. He never considered it could be a defense mechanism.

"Today was supposed to be our day off." Naruto kicked at his floor, scuffing his heel on the wood. "We don't get any missions until we've recovered from the last one."

Kakashi hadn't realized that Naruto had paid that much attention to the regulations that guided missions. Still, Naruto certainly had no cause to be concerned about his recovery rate. He hadn't even been injured in the mission to Hakui.

"Was Kaeru not recovered?" Kakashi asked instead. "He seemed to be doing well when he was with you and Sasuke."

That interaction had been typical on Kaeru's part at least. Every time Kakashi saw the young man interact with his team, it was usually in the form of teacher to student, even an older brother to a younger. At the time, Kakashi thought it had been one more characteristic that proved Kaeru's connection with Minato. Minato-sensei had always been the best teacher.

Did that mean that Naruto would grow up to be just as good of a teacher?

"I don't know." Naruto scuffed his foot across the bare floor as he hung his head.

"You weren't injured at all." Kakashi thought it was rather blatant segue to what he needed, but Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"Nope. Not at all, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto lifted both his hands to flex his muscles in demonstration.

"You wouldn't mind giving me a sample of your blood, then."

Naruto's fists immediately lowered, and he shot a puzzled "huh?" up at Kakashi.

"It's something for the bingo book," Kakashi lied. "To prove your identity."

Only after Kakashi had said his reason did he realize that the lie was actually true in a way. Naruto's blood would either confirm Kaeru was telling the truth or open up an entirely new slough of ugly possibilities. But Naruto's face lit up at the prospect of being a famous ninja and he agreed readily enough. After that, it was simple to instruct Naruto to cut a small slice on his thumb and swipe the blood across an empty piece of paper that Kakashi held out. The Hokage would certainly have enough equipment to test even that small amount, Kakashi thought as he folded up the paper and slid it into his pocket.

"Oh, and Naruto?" Kakashi waited until Naruto looked up at him. "Kaeru said he needed a seal he was working on. Something to do with time?"

Without really responding, Naruto turned and bolted to the small space that existed between the low couch and the wall of the apartment. Kakashi watched him pull out a plain canvas pack and rummage through it briefly before pulling out a short scroll with no markings on it.

"Kaeru-nii said he'd work on this if he had time on the last mission." Naruto handed it over to Kakashi.

Kakashi hummed in answer and turned to vault back out the window.

"Hey, you can just use the door!" Naruto shouted after him. "Stupid sensei!"

* * *

Jiraiya poured over the scroll in his hand while his teacher stood at his side with all the emotions and tells of a statue. They were both facing a large glass window, one-way glass of course, that looked in on a bare room that only held one occupant.  
The young man bound hand, foot, and torso to the chair in the center of the room hadn't moved all night. Of course, that could've been because of his many bonds and the fact that the seals tied into the ropes that held him were meant to cut off all but the barest amount of chakra necessary to live — not enough to perform jutsu or escape. Although the fact that the boy hadn't _moved_, coupled with the seal Jiraiya was still examining made the seal master a touch nervous.

Not that he'd admit that, of course.

"Ah, Ibiki," Sarutobi drawled in a manner that almost suggested he wasn't concerned with the goings on around him.

Jiraiya looked up to see Ibiki and Kakashi walking down the dark hallway toward the interrogation room. Kakashi immediately handed over a short, fat scroll and a folded square of paper to the Hokage then slipped his hands into his pockets as he turned to face the large window. The masked jounin showed no signs of being overly interested in the prisoner behind the glass, but Jiraiya noticed that Kakashi's uncovered eye was focused solely on the boy.

"Hokage-sama," Ibiki greeted with no formal bow or inclination of his head. Ibiki would never allow himself to take his eyes off someone so strong.

"I believe you understand the situation," Sarutobi said mildly. "This is only to be a preliminary fact-finding interview."

Ibiki snorted, while Jiraiya almost agreed with the sentiment — privately, of course. Any interview conducted in the T&I offices _was_ an interrogation, there was no other word to call it. An interview just lacked the more brutal tools that shinobi were known to use. But Ibiki unlocked the door to the empty room and strode in menacingly.

Sarutobi unfurled the short scroll from Kakashi and cast his eyes over it as Ibiki stood in front of the drooping boy and began.

"Why are you here?" Ibiki demanded.

"'Cuz Sandaime-jiji doesn't believe me yet."

The boy didn't even sound all that bothered. Just sad.

"What do you make of this?" Sarutobi suddenly handed the scroll to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya glanced down at it, fully intending to give it only the barest lookover. But then, he noticed that the ring of kanji around the seal was completely wrong. It looked like someone had tried to combine the symbol Jiraiya knew Minato had used for his Hiraishin seal with a symbol that was new; but it looked most like a reversal seal. The combination of a space-time seal with a reversal seal would be exponentially volatile, and Jiraiya wondered who had taught the boy that this would be a good idea.

"If that kid's the one that made this, he's an idiot," Jiraiya finally declared.

He was surprised when Kakashi glanced at him with a sharp, brief glare, as if in defense of the young man under interrogation. Jiraiya huffed and focused his attention back on the window.

"What is your intention for Uzumaki Naruto?" Ibiki was asking.

"To make him Hokage," answered the boy dully.

"What about Uchiha Sasuke?"

"To make him happy."

Well, _that _was a weird goal for a spy. Even Ibiki seemed surprised by the answer, pausing instead of moving right on to the next question. Jiraiya almost expected the interrogator to turn around and throw a confused look through the glass, but Ibiki was too professional for that.

"That kid doesn't make sense." Fortunately, Jiraiya had never set much stock toward tact.

"What about the seal?" Sarutobi was using his teaching-voice, something Jiraiya rarely ever heard anymore. It had been fairly commonplace when Sarutobi had gotten tired of listening to three genin who couldn't get along.

"It is a time seal," Jiraiya said. "From what I can tell, someone was trying to freeze time rather than simply freezing the chakra within this seal. It's more complicated when it doesn't need to be."

He glanced down again at the paper in his hands to confirm his initial findings.

"This combination is more dangerous than it is useful," he explained. "It's more likely to explode in his face if he ever uses it."

"And would this explosion cause any backwards movement in time?"

Jiraiya eyed Sarutobi cautiously.

"You want to know if what he claimed is even possible?"

"Yes," Sarutobi said shortly.

Jiraiya only shook his head.

"This is crazy."

"He still looks like Minato-sensei," commented Kakashi.

Jiraiya thought Kakashi's students must be rubbing off on the man. He was starting to hope too much for the impossible.

* * *

Yamanaka Inoichi strode down the stairs in the Hokage Tower, curious in spite of himself. Usually he had appointments when his expertise in mind-techniques were needed within the T&I department. An immediate summons from the Hokage himself, like the one Inoichi held in his hand, was unusual. And for it to come at this time of night meant that the Hokage had gotten a new source suddenly. But Inoichi wasn't aware of any high profile missions or hunter-nin assignments that were expected back any time soon. He supposed he would find out soon enough what this was about, but it still bothered him a little. He was, after all, a family man now.

Inoichi met his superior, Morino Ibiki, in the corridor that led to the holding cells for Interrogation.

"Number four," Morino said shortly. "Hokage-sama is already there."

"Who did we get in?" asked Inoichi.

Morino shrugged a bit.

"Hokage-sama only wanted a preliminary. The kid says his name's Uzumaki Kaeru."

"Uzumaki?" Inoichi repeated.

That name in and of itself was curious. While he was aware of the history Uzumaki played in Konoha's foundation, the country of Whirlpool itself was destroyed to the point that it no longer existed on any maps but ancient, out-of-date ones. Morino then brushed past Inoichi and headed for the stairs to the upper levels.

"You're not staying, _senpai_?" Inoichi chalked up another unusual trait in this particular case. Morino tended to at least observe any interrogations that were under his shift.

"I gotta delivery to make to the hospital." Morino waved a folded square of paper in the air. "Besides, the Hokage seems to want this one private."

Inoichi frowned. A private foray into someone's mind usually meant it dealt with sensitive material. Even so, Morino, as the head of the T&I department, would normally have clearance to access such materials.

Inoichi rounded the corner of the hallway and saw Sandaime, Hatake Kakashi, and even the legendary Jiraiya standing in front of one of the large glass windows that looked into a holding room.

"Hokage-sama," Inoichi announced his presence, even though it probably wasn't necessary with such a high-class audience waiting.

"Ah, Inoichi," greeted the Hokage. "You remember my student Jiraiya, of course."

Inoichi nodded at the tall man, who only gave a brief glance to the new addition before he turned back to the window. Inoichi allowed his eyes to travel to the glass briefly. The interrogation room was set up with all the proper equipment: a chair for him to sit in and a large helmet that would come over his eyes once he put it on. The occupant of the room was a red-haired teenager who was slumped so far down in his chair that Inoichi almost supposed the boy was unconscious.

Beside Jiraiya was Hatake Kakashi. Inoichi wasn't that familiar with the jounin, although there weren't many in the ranks of Konoha that didn't know of Sharingan Kakashi — and the strange habits that came with him. Strangely enough though, Inoichi couldn't see any sign of the little orange book that Kakashi was near famous for carrying around. Instead, he seemed singularly focused on the window into the interrogation room.

"That is Uzumaki Kaeru?" Inoichi confirmed, hoping to glean some additional information. It would be helpful to have some idea of what he was looking for before poking around the young man's head.

"It is," Sandaime said shortly.

The Hokage said nothing else for a moment, and Inoichi almost gave an exasperated sigh.

"What will I be looking for?" He considered himself lucky he kept his tone professional.

"Focus on memories from between three and five years ago," ordered the Hokage. "Especially those regarding Konoha, Jiraiya, or Kakashi-san."

Inoichi glanced at the two men who could possibly be considered guests in the interrogation department. The large sennin hadn't moved except to stare down at a scroll in his hands, while Kakashi just kept staring through the window. Whoever this young man was — Uzumaki or not — he was important to both of the men. Inoichi could only think of one man who could garner that kind of reaction in both men; they only had the one connection between them.

Namikaze Minato.

Minato had been a few years younger than Inoichi and his teammates, but Inoichi had respected the hell out of the man both in the war and after. He knew that a certain kunoichi, Uzumaki Kushina, could often be seen gallivanting behind or around Minato, but no one had thought anything of it. Uzumaki had been boisterous at the best of times and obnoxious at the worst.

"All right." At least Inoichi had a direction to pursue. From the closed off looks of all three men at the glass, he didn't think he'd be getting any further instructions than that.

Inoichi strode into the interrogation room, followed by the three men who seemed interested in the case. At the sound of the door, the young man in the chair finally lifted his head to see what was going on. His eyes — bright blue — met Inoichi's, and the young man grimaced.

"Something wrong?" Inoichi asked lightly.

The young Uzumaki didn't sport any obvious injuries or wounds, but if Morino had been here before Inoichi had even gotten there it could explain the young man's attitude.

"You're gonna get into my head," Uzumaki said dismally. "My head's not a nice place to be, Yamanaka-san."

Inoichi blinked at the young man.

"You seem to know who I am," he said.

It wasn't unheard of for allies — and even some enemies — to know of the Yamanaka clan and their abilities, even if they didn't know the particulars of the clan jutsu. Uzumaki only shrugged as much as he could with his hands bound to the chair.

"I met your daughter once. Or twice."

Inoichi knew that Ino had a tendency to hyperfocus on certain aspects of her training. There were periods of time where Inoichi could recall going for days on end hearing about Uchiha Sasuke instead of what Ino was learning at the Academy. Still, Inoichi liked to think that Ino would know to tell him about a suspicious character she had met inside Konoha.

"I don't remember meeting you," Inoichi finally said pointedly.

"You'll figure it out." Uzumaki closed his eyes and lowered his head again.

Inoichi for the most part ignored the young man's despondent position and began his set up. The helmet was meant for communication. It would allow him to project the memories that he saw directly into the minds of his audience. Normally, the tool wasn't used outside of desperate situations that required a centralized command point to coordinate a large-scale attack. It was telling that the Hokage thought this important enough that he himself wanted to see what was in this boy's mind. Inoichi finally sat down in the chair facing the young man. He slipped the helmet-like apparatus over his head, pausing before he lowered the visor over his eyes. He wasn't in any real danger with the three men standing guard just behind him, and any memories he did find would be recorded for later viewing in case he was in no shape to report once he emerged from the jutsu. Despite all this, Inoichi still had an uneasy feeling about what he was about to do.

Then, Uzumaki's eyes snapped up, devoid of any glaze of the drugged or the despair he had previously shown.

"Just do it," the young man commanded.

Rather than think about the way his gut wanted to respond to a kid giving him orders, Inoichi lowered the visor and let his vision turn black. The last thing he was aware of in the waking world was the tentative voice of a young man outside of his depth.

"I'm not gonna like this."

* * *

_A boy sits on a wooden swing beneath a leafy tree, but he doesn't make any effort to push himself. He holds to the rope holding the swing up with his head bowed as voices float around him._

_ "He didn't pass the test."_

_ "I should hope not! That's the boy who—"_

_ "Shh! We're not supposed to talk about that."_

_ The boy shrugs and pushes himself off the swing with his head so low his eyes remain completely in the shadows._

_ . . ._

_ The boy stands in the middle of a large concrete bridge. His eyes are red and his face dark. He holds a kunai as he faces a boy his own age with an expression as cool as winter snow._

_ The boy charges with his arm back in an arc that will plunge his kunai into the dark boy. It starts to snow._

_ . . ._

_ The boy is soaked, but his glare is heated and, at the same time, pained, as he looks upriver to the top of the falls before him._

_ "Did that wake you up?"_

_ "Sasuke!"_

_ . . ._

_ The boy is a young man now. He runs down a line of tiled roofs, the red identifying them as Konoha build. The sky is filled with smoke and fire, painting the day the color of a dying twilight. _

_ "Where are they?" the boy demands, angry and loud._

_ There is no response over the cacophony of other voices shouting in the burning village._

_ "Keep going! Don't look back!"_

_ "Are all the kids out?"_

_ "Where's the enemy?"_

_ Then, a shout makes the young man perk up._

_ "He's been spotted. Heading for Hokage Tower."_

_ The young man turns and vaults toward the largest structure in the village, a large red building where a torn and tattered banner reads "Fire."_

_ "Baa-chan!"_

_ The village sweeps past him as he races to the scene of conflict. The very air blurs, and everyone falls away until he reaches his goal. He lands on the balcony of the building with a crash that reverberates to the office just beyond the glass. In the office stands a woman with an ample chest and a green clock. A crippled man is beside her, his arm tucked into his yataku while his free hand holds a cane; his head is half-covered with bandages. _

_ Together, they face two men in dark cloaks with red clouds dotted on them. One of the men wears an orange and black mask while the other holds a chukoto in both hands, his body tense in preparation to strike. Before he can, though, his companion lays one hand on the younger man's shoulder. He calls something to the crippled man and the woman, his words lost by distance and perhaps adrenaline. The air in front of the masked man puckers and twists until he himself is disappearing into the vortex, along with the young man by his side._

_ Then, the crippled man drops his cane as a sharp tanto suddenly appears in his hand. He turns abruptly to one side and lunges at the woman beside him. She jumps away as the young man beyond the glass charges through the glass and throws a wild punch at the man with only one eye. He jumps away with ease, standing between the woman and the enraged young man._

_ "What are you doing!" shouts the woman._

_ "I am for a peaceful Konoha," the man replies calmly._

_ "You made a deal with _him_?" The woman's head jerks in the direction of the empty space where the two darkly cloaked men once stood._

_ "In order to be at peace, we must be the strongest," says the man missing his cane. "You always refused to see that, just like your teacher, Tsunade-chan."_

_ The man attacks again, this time throwing himself toward the young man, whose face has turned violent with dark lines decorating his cheeks and making him look feral. Suddenly, the woman appears in front of the young man, stopping the man's knife by grapping his wrist._

_ "Baa-chan!" the young man yells._

_ "Naruto, get out of here." The woman's voice is calm, low and dangerous. "Everyone's escaping already. Don't worry about the buildings, and don't worry about me. I can hold him here. You go get that damn Uchiha."_

_ The young man nods, only once, before he turns. He exits the building the same way he came in to much of the same scene. The village still burns, and the air smells like burnt feathers and peeled back flesh. The young man ignores all this and runs in pursuit of an enemy that has taken away his home._

* * *

Hiruzen snapped his eyes open just as Inoichi jerked forward before he remembered to unlatch his hand from Kaeru's forehead. Tearing the helmet from his head, Inoichi looked incredibly discomposed, especially for a man who made a regular job out of getting inside people's minds. Hiruzen took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Could you tell if it was a false image, Inoichi?" he demanded.

Inoichi's eyes, wide with disbelief, snapped to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama," Inoichi began, "you felt the emotions yourself. He _lived _through that. He saw Konoha destroyed."

Hiruzen tried not to close his eyes. But keeping them open didn't stop him from seeing that scene all over again. His village, the one he had vowed to protect twice over, was burning to the ground at the hands of someone he thought had the best interests of the village in mind, even if Hiruzen didn't agree with Danzo's methods.

"He experienced those memories as if they really happened," continued Inoichi. "They weren't false memories he was feeding to me, and they didn't feel like a foreign genjutsu someone else had placed inside him. They really happened."

And thus, Hiruzen's hope was shattered. He could deal with a clone or an unknown, illegitimate son. But if Kaeru was truly Uzumaki Naruto from the future, then everything he claimed _about _the future had to be true. Including the terrible fate of Konoha.

"Who is he?" Inoichi stared at the boy who was slumped in his chair, looking for all the world as if the mind-reading had rendered him unconscious.

Then, Kaeru's head lifted slightly, and he looked at Inoichi. Slowly, the corners of Kaeru's mouth lifted into a small, shaky smile.

"Konoha's Number One Unpredictable Ninja," Kaeru said, slowly and softly like his breath wasn't coming as easily as he'd like it.

Hiruzen stepped forward so that he stood directly in Kaeru's line of sight.

"Inoichi, Kakashi, would you check on the blood sample that Ibiki-san took with him," he said without turning to face either of the men.

He heard their hesitation even before he was aware that the silence dragged on too long. Then, quietly, two presences disappeared from the interrogation room, and Hiruzen was left with only Jiraiya for company as he stood over the bound redhead in the chair.

Kaeru glanced up at Hiruzen.

"You believe me?" he asked hopefully.

Hiruzen clasped his hands behind his back and wished for his pipe. Not only would the tobacco help his stress levels, it could make him look that much more intimidating as a man who really didn't care about the fate of his prisoners. But now, Hiruzen couldn't manage to bring up his former level of apathy.

He still thought Kaeru looked quite like Kushina.

"I shouldn't," he finally responded.

He really should be waiting until all the proof was in, including the most recent blood test. But all the evidence he was already collecting backed up Kaeru's story rather than his own theories. Kaeru hadn't been created; even implanted memories would leave behind clues that they were false. The brief flashes of memory before Inoichi had found that last one had been from Naruto's view. Hiruzen even recognized the old swing in front of the Academy. He had seen Naruto sitting there alone the day of the Academy graduation through his crystal ball.

"You said Orochimaru attacked during the Chuunin Exams," Hiruzen began.

When Kaeru nodded eagerly, still bound to the chair, Hiruzen drew up the seat that Inoichi had vacated. His bones were too old to stand all the way through an interrogation.

"Start there."

* * *

The sun had risen by the time Kakashi got back to the T&I department with his information, and the redheaded boy had been within his cell the entire time. The Hokage and Jiraiya exited the room immediately, but no one followed them. Wordlessly, Kakashi held up the manila folder as the Hokage approached his position in the hallway just across from the wide window. Sandaime took the folder and flipped it open as Jiraiya hovered around his teacher's shoulder, facing the window that viewed the boy in the chair.

"Kaeru's blood is a match to Uzumaki Naruto's," Sandaime announced with no tone of surprise.

Kakashi's insides gave a little jerk. Not that he wasn't half-expecting the result ever since Kaeru had been dragged into interrogation, but this new confirmation jolted him. At least when he had thought that Kaeru was born of Minato's blood, he could hope. Even if Kaeru had been cloned by an enemy or didn't have the memories that Minato-sensei would have, it was like having his sensei back. Just a little bit. Kakashi could even imagine that the teenager named Kaeru might eventually become more like _sensei_. Although those thoughts never made it beyond a half-life in Kakashi's mind. He had lived with too much loss to let such hope fully form past whispers and dreams.

This boy, though, was now Uzumaki Naruto. He was supposedly the same kid that Kakashi had seen keep milk far past the expiration date and lead chuunin and jounin on a merry chase just because he wanted to pull a prank. Kaeru was more like Minato than he was like Naruto, to Kakashi's eyes. So, how much of Kaeru was an act?

Kakashi suddenly thought of the way Naruto's shoulders had sunk as he pouted and wondered if he should ask how much of Naruto was an act instead.

As the Hokage looked over the results of the blood test with Jiraiya standing like a statue beside him, Kakashi decided no one would mind if he took a little initiative. He pushed himself off the wall and walked up to the door of the interrogation cell. Jiraiya started forward, but Kakashi only heard a grunt from the Hokage and no further movement.

Inside the cell, Kaeru had been untied, but he remained in the chair. The only change in his position made him appear more despondent than ever. He was slumped forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Kakashi could ask a thousand questions, but demands of his identity were rather pointless now. He went back to the memory instead.

"The enemy attacking Konoha," he began. "It was Sasuke, wasn't it?"

Kakashi didn't know if the Hokage had seen it, but Kakashi at least knew his students well enough to know that Naruto would react that strongly only to someone he considered precious to him. He also knew that Sasuke's obsession could potentially bring the boy to the brink of sanity. Maybe beyond.

Without lifting his head from his hands, Kaeru nodded silently. Kakashi didn't lower his head, although his muscles seemed to strain to support the sudden weight in his chest.

"Why?"

The question should really be how, so Kakashi could be a good soldier and citizen of Konoha and protect his village. But he was more concerned with what had made Sasuke turn from the goal of destroying his brother, an enemy of Konoha, to destroying his own home. Kaeru raised his head, but he looked blankly at the glass that mirrored the interrogation room to him rather than at Kakashi.

"During the Chuunin Exams that Konoha hosted at the end of Sandaime's reign, Orochimaru slipped in disguised as a Kusa-nin," Kaeru said blandly. "He placed the Heaven Seal on Sasuke and promised him enough power to defeat Itachi. One month later, Sasuke defected and became Orochimaru's disciple."

_Orochimaru_. Kaeru had mentioned him before, briefly. Kakashi hated the fact that the man was showing his face again. He hated even more that Orochimaru seemed to have such a tie to one of his students.

"That's where everything starts, I think," Kaeru sighed. "If I can stop that . . ."

Kaeru suddenly looked up and met Kakashi's gaze.

"Sasuke's strong, Kakashi-sensei. Really strong."

Kaeru's voice was stronger now, and his eyes had some of that same snapping quality that Kakashi had first noticed. Then, Kaeru frowned, looking for all the world like an exasperated older brother.

"But he's stupid," finished the redhead bluntly. "He thinks getting vengeance will make him happy. But it won't."

Kaeru scrubbed one hand over his face as if he could wipe away his frown with his callouses.

"I killed the guy who killed ero-sennin, and we picked Akatsuki off one-by-one after the fox got out."

Kakashi didn't quite like the fact that Kaeru's voice was now dead rather than the exasperated exhalation it had been when describing Sasuke's stupidity.

"It didn't change the fact that I lost people who were precious to me," Kaeru continued. "Sasuke doesn't get that. Not yet."

Then, Kaeru raised his eyes again and pinned with a familiar sharp gaze.

"I'm gonna teach him," he stated.

Suddenly, Kakashi recognized the look he had kept seeing in Kaeru's eyes. It still looked a bit like Minato's war face, but it was more the sheer determination that he had seen mirrored on the younger Naruto's face. When Naruto had declared he was going to make his own nindo for shinobi to follow, when he had stood up to Gatou on the bridge even when the odds were against all of them — that was the light that shined in Kaeru's eyes.

Kakashi could see then how Naruto could grow into the young man who so reminded him of Kakashi's own _sensei_. Kakashi cleared his throat to get back on topic.

"I thought that was my job," he noted, finding it relatively easy to slip back into the hip attitude that bothered Gai so much. "I am his _sensei_."

But even as he said it, Kakashi wondered if he should be the only one claiming that title. All three of his students were alike in that they supposedly had no one at home to help them with ninjutsu techniques — unlike their classmates from Konoha clans like Yamanaka or Inuzuka. But Kaeru had somehow filled that role in some way for all of his students. Kakashi had seen with his own eyes the way that Kaeru coached both Naruto and Sasuke on their chakra control and taijutsu. Even Sakura's presence at the hospital was influenced by Kaeru. Kaeru was molding his team just as much as Kakashi was.

"Although, maybe it would be better if we worked some kind of partnership model." Kakashi tapped his cloth-covered chin thoughtfully.

"Really?" Kaeru had that wildly hopeful look again — the same look he had when Kakashi had said that he smiled like Minato.

It was that more than anything that convinced Kakashi, that boyish hope of a son that wanted to grow up to be just like his father.

"You're a very good teacher, Naruto."

The redhead's wide eyes filled with water before the young man ducked his head just like Naruto had done. Kakashi pretended not to see the unbound hand that came up to swipe across damp eyes.

"It's Kaeru, stupid _sensei_," Kaeru choked out in a voice that was half a laugh and half a sob.

Kakashi only smiled beneath his mask.

* * *

"This where you live? Cozy."

Kaeru rolled his eyes at Jiraiya and slipped his key into the lock with a scraping sound.

"I've been in worse places," he replied. "Sometimes with you, ero-sennin."

Jiraiya didn't respond at all to Kaeru's crooked smile, which was a little sad, but then again Kaeru supposed that Jiraiya didn't have the history yet behind "ero-sennin" that Kaeru did himself. He might have to fix that.

Kaeru opened the apartment door and stepped inside first. There was a large saucepan sitting smack in the middle of the high table in the kitchen, with two empty bowls set out at two chairs, like a couple of ghosts were ready to have a meal.

"Kaeru-nii!" Naruto came bounding up to the redhead, one hand scrubbing at his eyes. "You're home!"

Kaeru noticed Naruto wearing the exact same clothes he had been during his training bout with Sasuke. The shirt was wrinkled and bunched like Naruto had slept in it, and there was a crumpled blanket on his couch where Kaeru usually slept.

"Hey, _gaki_." Kaeru ruffled Naruto's hair gently. "Sorry to make you worry."

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, either at the treatment his head was getting or the thought that he had done anything out of the ordinary.

"I wasn't worried," he insisted.

"Sure, sure."

Kaeru grinned and went to straighten the coach back up for something to do. He liked having Naruto around; the kid reminded him of all the things he was trying to protect.

"Hey, who's that?"

Kaeru turned back to see Naruto rudely jab one finger at the giant standing just inside the apartment door. Jiraiya took on a look of incredulous affront.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of me, boy?" he demanded in a deep voice. "I am the great Jiraiya-sama! Women fall at my feet—"

"He's a super pervert," Kaeru interrupted.

"What?" Jiraiya nearly screamed, offended.

"And he's an expert on seals," Kaeru finished, not bothered at all by Jiraiya's shouting. He had heard it enough times as it was.

Naruto suddenly turned thoughtful and studied Jiraiya as if he expected to find some evidence on Jiraiya's expertise.

"Like seals on people?" he asked.

Jiraiya calmed enough to study Naruto in return, his eyes lingering over the kid's stomach for just long enough for Kaeru to trace his gaze.

"I mostly work with paper," admitted the sennin. "But I've seen seals that were drawn on skin as well. Those are almost always more deadly."

His eyes flicked to Kaeru once. Kaeru suspected Jiraiya was thinking more of the consequences of his own seals rather than the tightly locked combination Naruto now bore. Naruto was safe from the fox for now. Kaeru was not.

"Oh."

Naruto's voice was small in a way it almost never was. His eyes stared at the floor as his fingers tucked themselves into the hem of his wrinkled shirt. That was enough of the moping, Kaeru decided.

"Thanks for taking me back," he said as he turned to Jiraiya firmly.

"No problem." Jiraiya shrugged one shoulder in the air. "You can report in two days for your assignment next week."

"Fine."

Jiraiya exited the apartment without really saying goodbye and shut the door firmly behind him. Kaeru wondered for a moment if Jiraiya really believed him about who he was and how he had gotten to this point in time.

"What assignment was he talking about?" Naruto demanded.

Kaeru glanced down at the boy and then shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted. The Hokage had never said anything about another assignment, and none of the genin teams would probably need another member for a very good reason. "The Chuunin Exams are next week."

"You mean the tests to get to the next level," Naruto said eagerly, like he was anxious to prove he knew something.

"Yeah." Kaeru had at least tried to prepare Naruto a little bit for those. He reached down to lay a heavy hand on Naruto's head. "You're gonna pass, right, _gaki_?"

"Yeah!" Naruto pumped one fist in the air triumphantly.

Suddenly, Naruto lunged for the kitchen, knocking Kaeru's hand off his head as he went.

"Hey, I got something for you," he announced.

Naruto returned with a white cloth from the counter. A strip of orange cloth was around it, holding the long, thin roll of cloth together like a bow would. It was obviously a present, but it was a rather haphazard job of wrapping. Kaeru undid the orange bow and carefully tugged on one end of the cloth, which was rolled up like a seal. He heard the _clank_ of wood against wood before he saw polished wooden handles with fine fur tapered at the point.

"Brushes!" Naruto declared, obviously pleased with himself.

Kaeru pulled one of the set out of the cloth for closer inspection. He ran the pad of his thumb over the bristles, feeling the softness and the way all the bristles moved the same direction. These were top quality fude.

"See?" Naruto demanded the attention to himself once again. "'Cuz yours were getting old, Kaeru-nii."

Kaeru looked down at the kid who had obviously tried to wait up all night for his adopted older brother to come home, who had bought a present for a supposed cousin because that was what family did, even if Naruto didn't have any experience with the actual giving of gifts.

"Yeah," Kaeru whispered.

* * *

A/N: I actually had fun with this chapter. Well, some fun and some frustration. I am not quite happy with the memory-scene. I had notes written out about how my alternative future played out (when I started writing this story, Pein had just attacked Konoha, which tells you how long it's been). But I find that now I was way too ambitious in trying to pack everything I wanted to into my version of breaking down Konoha.

Also, Danzo seems to betray Konoha in pretty much everything I write.

Anyway, divergence is noted (I might still go over this chapter and write a second draft if I have time), Kakashi is getting all the connections squared away in his head (Kaeru resembles Naruto and Naruto resembles Minato thus Kaeru resembles Minato), and Jiraiya is scheming (but when is Jiraiya not scheming).

I would also like to point out that much of Kaeru's opinions on Sasuke are also my own. I mean, the character himself has so much potential, even as someone who is slightly off the moral center that Naruto presents. He can just be so stupid sometimes. His most recent actions in the manga prove my point. He wants to know the truth about everything he's heard before making a judgement (finally! he makes some sense). So he resurrects Orochimaru to get the truth (Really? That's the best guy you can think to ask?).

I rest my case.

Fia


	24. Chapter 24

Sasuke looked down at the paper in his hand, glancing over the empty spaces labeled "teammates," "genin sensei," and "blood type."

"You'll have to fill them out by tomorrow and hand them in at the Hokage Tower," said Kakashi as he stood before his three young students.

"Seriously?" Naruto shouted to the high heavens and started to jump up and down in place. "We're taking the Chuunin Exams! Yes!"

On Sasuke's other side, Sakura was studying the entry form with a thoughtful look on her face, much more pensive than Sasuke had ever seen her when she was at the Academy or when she tended to read over iryou-jutsu scrolls while he and Naruto would spar.

"What about Kaeru?" demanded Naruto.

"He's only partnered with our team for a few missions." Kakashi shrugged. "Since I'm not his permanent sensei, I can't nominate him for the exams."

Naruto pouted, pushing his lower lip out so far that Sasuke could almost see his gums. But as soon as Kakashi looked to answer one of Sakura's questions about parental consent, Naruto sucked his lip back in and stared at his paperwork intently. Sasuke was so busy watching Naruto that he barely noticed when Kakashi bid them a final farewell and then disappeared in a swirl of leaves and twigs.

"Ah, man. He's gotta teach us that!" Naruto cried, indignant.

Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes before he looked back at his entry form. He was aware of what the Chuunin Exams were, but he hadn't known they were coming up. He hadn't really thought about the exams, though, since Kaeru had first mentioned it on the mission to Nami. He knew it was a way to measure his growth; as long as he had gotten stronger, the village would promote him. It was one step closer to being strong enough to achieve his goal.

Except Sasuke hadn't thought much about his goal for a while. It was always there — the knowledge that he was getting stronger for a reason, for vengeance — but Itachi had faded to the back of his mind in lieu of more immediate matters, like training with his teammates. Naruto had become a valuable partner, especially when Kaeru also showed up to guide them both through the training, pointing out where they went wrong. Sasuke noticed that more of his hits connected since he had first challenged Kaeru. But Kaeru hadn't fought one-on-one with him since then. Sasuke wondered how he'd do now compared with even a few months ago.

Naruto continued to skip ahead of them.

"Where do you think you're going, dobe?" Sasuke wasn't about to let Naruto know how valuable he was, though. Not yet.

"I gotta find Kaeru-nii," Naruto called over his shoulder. "He's always got brushes and ink on him."

To fill out the form, Sasuke realized. Naruto gave an extra high skip in his step and landed facing Sasuke, though he kept walking backwards. Kind of like Kaeru had done when they all had been walking to Harui. Naruto grinned toward an area over Sasuke's shoulder.

"We're gonna be the best team ever, right, Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at Sakura, who was following the two boys with plodding steps. She looked up at Naruto with wide eyes, as if she was surprised that she was being addressed at all. Then, Sakura glanced back down at her form.

"I don't know," she murmured. "We haven't been genin for that long."

"So?" Naruto threw out in a challenging tone. "That just means that Kakashi-sensei thinks we're ready. Besides, look what we had to do on that mission to Wave! I bet no other genin team had to deal with nuke-nin and stupid yakuza bosses."

Naruto had a point. Not that Sasuke would ever admit that out loud.

"I don't think Haku was a yakuza boss," Sasuke scoffed.

Naruto scowled immediately and jabbed one finger at Sasuke rudely.

"I meant Gatou-teme, you bastard!" he shouted.

"Stop swearing so much, Naruto-baka!" Sakura's tone sounded vaguely like a mother reprimanding a wayward child.

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and stopped his slow steps backwards.

"Does this mean I can take you out for ramen, Sakura-chan?" He grinned widely.

Sakura growled a little and bolted toward Naruto with her brow drawn into a deep frown. Naruto just laughed loudly and started running away, like a kid playing tag. Sasuke scowled after them both.

He didn't understand his teammates. It wasn't just the fact that he was the strongest of the three of them — except he didn't know how true that was, either, because Naruto had been the one to come up with the plan to distract Zabuza, and Sasuke didn't understand half of what Sakura read in her scrolls. But if he acknowledged that his teammates were strong, that training with Naruto helped him much more than training alone could, then what he couldn't understand was Naruto's attitude. Naruto himself had just made an argument that their team had had to face things no other genin team did, and they had completed every mission they had undertaken so far. And then, Naruto turned around and started a friendly game of tag like a kid.

Sasuke couldn't understand the dichotomy. Those who were strong focused only on getting strong and staying strong, didn't they? Maybe that wasn't true, after all. Sasuke knew that he wouldn't chose to go on a mission with anyone other than Naruto watching his back.

* * *

Gaara stood on a large branch in the tree near a courtyard in the eastern section of the village, peering through the leaves at the scene below him. Konoha had far too many trees. He wasn't used to anything blocking his view. Suna had only outposts and tall buildings for vantage points in the village.

Not that the situation on the ground was anything terribly exciting.

"Look, I didn't mean to run into you, yarou," growled a boy about Gaara's age.

The boy was dangling from Kankuro's grip on his orange and white collar, his feet barely scraping the ground. Kankuro had taken offense when the boy had raced around a corner and smacked into Kankuro's shoulder. A girl with strangely pink hair stood behind the boy, glancing at both Kankuro and Temari, who didn't look inclined to get involved in one of her younger brother's spats.

"I said I was sorry, so just let me go!" The boy started kicking out his feet towards Kankuro.

Gaara almost thought this boy was untrained, but then the kid grabbed Kankuro's wrist in a hold that could potentially flip Kankuro over with his own weight. Kankuro noticed it as well and lifted his free hand back for a straight out punch. Then, a dark figure suddenly landed on the branch just below Gaara with both hands clenched into fists. The newcomer drew back one hand and launched a small pebble at the fight breaking out below.

In the time it took for the stone to hit Kankuro's hand, the boy with dark hair shifted to sit on the branch and draw in a deep breath to negate the shortness of breath that his race up the tree had caused. By the time everyone on the ground turned to look up at the tree, Gaara was masking his chakra, and the boy below him was slouched in a cool pose, casually tossing his remaining stone to himself.

"If you're here to start a fight," said the boy, "I could give you a better one than that loser."

"Hey!"

Gaara paid no attention to the outburst from the kid in orange. This whole thing was ridiculous, and it was making Mother restless at the back of his mind.

"Stop," Gaara said.

The boy in dark colors spun his head around, surprised at Gaara's sudden appearance when he stopped masking his chakra.

"Kankuro, you're embarrassing me." He glared down at his teammates.

"Gaara."

Gaara could hear the hesitance in Kankuro's tone as the older boy dropped his hold on the boy in orange. Gaara let a simple transportation jutsu carry him from the tree down to the ground in front of Kankuro and Temari. The familiar feeling of hundreds of grains of sand slipping around him, barely brushing him, calmed the voice in his head ever so slightly.

"Let's go," he commanded.

"Wait," called a feminine voice.

Gaara glanced behind him to see the pink-haired girl step forward bravely.

"You're not Konoha-nin," she said. "Why are you here?"

Something like that would hardly be worth answering. Besides, Gaara had been given his orders aside from everything else. He was to be a weapon for the Yondaime Kazekage.

"Idiots," Temari scoffed. "Haven't you heard of the Chuunin Exams?"

"Oh, you're taking that, too?" the boy in orange said. The anger in his voice was gone completely. "Maybe we'll meet each other in the matches."

"I doubt it." Kankuro rolled his eyes as Gaara watched. "Someone like you will get eliminated in the first round."

The boy crouched down and balled up his fists like a kid getting ready to charge.

"Why you—" growled the orange boy.

"Or do you want me to give you a beat down here and now?" Kankuro grinned a smug smile.

Gaara noticed the dark boy's hand inch toward the pouch of weapons on his leg. Turning to face the Konoha team, Gaara lifted his right hand with his fingers curled slightly. Mother would be getting antsy soon; maybe the blood of these children would please her.

"If you're a guest in someone else's village, you really should be polite, Suna-nin," said a new voice.

Gaara's gaze lifted to beyond the three Konoha shinobi, and he saw a taller boy with red hair and a Konoha hitai-ate walking slowly up to the stand-off in the courtyard. His hands were in his pockets, and he looked supremely calm as he eyed Kankuro.

"Or didn't your father teach you about diplomatic relations?" asked the older ninja.

Gaara frowned at the new young man. Very few people outside of Suna knew about the blood relations between the three teammates. Gaara himself didn't even care. Brother and sister were just names that didn't mean anything, and father was just another term for the man that thought he could control Gaara. But Kankuro and Temari exchanged wide-eyed glances with each other before Temari turned and inclined her head toward the redhead.

"We apologize," she said politely.

The older boy just waved one hand casually.

"It's okay," he assured her. "If you're looking to explore, the shopping district is two streets over."

Temari nodded seriously, as if that was what she had been looking for all along. The redhead glanced over all three of the Suna-nin while Gaara watched. But as soon as the young man's eyes met Gaara's, the redhead turned away and used one hand on the shoulder of the boy in orange to turn the younger one away as well.

"Hey, Kaeru-nii!" the boy shouted. "We're in the Chuunin Exams! You gotta brush? I need a brush to fill this out."

Gaara's eyes followed the group calmly as the dark boy and the silly girl turned as well and followed after the two leaders. Gaara had wanted to ask the redhead his name. He looked straight at Gaara, and he hadn't been scared at all.

* * *

Hiruzen puffed on his pipe as he waited behind his desk for his guest to arrive. The past week had been quiet, aside from the sessions where he spoke at length to Jiraiya about what to do with his newfound knowledge of upcoming events. The two jounin already in his office didn't seem to mind the smell of smoke, but then they both had always been very good-natured boys.

One of the great wooden doors to Hiruzen's office opened to let in a young man with short red hair.

"Hey, Hokage-jiji." Kaeru waved at the Hokage shortly. "Sorry I'm late, I ran into Naruto and his team, and they just got their forms for the Chuunin Exams, so they wanted my help filling them out—"

Hiruzen gave a little cough as he pulled his pipe from his mouth. Kaeru stopped talking abruptly as the tips of his ears went red. With a little more practice, Hiruzen thought the boy could get as good with excuses as Kakashi had been at first, before all those ridiculous ones started to pop up.

Then, Kaeru seemed to notice the extra bodies in the Hokage Office. He turned and looked at the two dark-haired men standing with their backs against the wall of the office.

"Regarding what we discussed, Kaeru-kun," Hiruzen began, "these are your teammates for the Chuunin Exams. Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu."

As one, the two jounin stepped forward to meet the redheaded young man.

"I'm Kotetsu, and that's Izumo," said Kotetsu, pointing to first himself and then jerking his thumb toward Izumo.

"Right." Kaeru nodded and then stuck out his hand to shake with each of the men. "Nice to meet you. Uzumaki Kaeru."

"Yeah," muttered Izumo. "Hokage-sama told us."

Hiruzen was impressed when Kaeru didn't blanch or flinch in the face of Izumo's cold demeanor. Truthfully, both Kotetsu and Izumo were a tad suspicious of their new teammate, but that was Hiruzen's fault. It didn't help that neither of them were very good at hiding their dislike of their current mission. Still, Hiruzen leaned forward and tapped the ashes out of his pipe.

"Kotetsu and Izumo are aware of the intelligence you gave us concerning Orochimaru's plan to infiltrate and attack Konoha during the Chuunin Exams," he explained.

"Ah, right." Kaeru's hand went up to scratch at the back of his head, a gesture Hiruzen recognized as a nervous tic. Kaeru glanced out of the corner of his eye at where Kotetsu and Izumo were standing stoically.

Hiruzen wasn't going to reassure Kaeru here, but in truth he hadn't told Kotetsu and Izumo the truth of how Kaeru had come about his knowledge. He wanted to keep Kaeru's true identity as quiet as possible, and in a shinobi village, that meant telling as few people as possible.

"You said he does this during the second test, located in the Forest of Death?" continued Hiruzen.

Kaeru's hand dropped. He seemed more confident reporting like a shinobi than being questioned like an enemy.

"Well, the final attack was in the middle — the end, really—" he amended, "of the final rounds. That's the only test you were planning on attending, right, O-jiji?"

"That would be correct." Hiruzen nodded. "The final one-on-one battles are the best time to see all the genin in action."

The strategy made sense. Attack the Exams during the time when the head of the village is most likely in attendance.

"Yeah, that's most likely, then." Kaeru echoed Hiruzen's thoughts. "But hebi-teme still might do something on a smaller scale during one of the early tests."

Hiruzen noted the fierce determination in Kaeru's eyes and remembered what the young man had said about Orochimaru's desire for Uchiha Sasuke. The Sharingan was a rare bloodline these days, and Hiruzen could imagine that Orochimaru would much rather go after a thirteen-year-old genin than an eighteen-year-old missing nin. Even knowing what the secrets he did about Itachi, Hiruzen knew that Itachi would be a fair match for Orochimaru.

Leaving aside thoughts of secrets and missing nin, Hiruzen turned his attention back to the present — or at least to the next two days, when Kaeru had said Orochimaru would attack Sasuke for the first time in the Forest of Death.

"Then that is where you three will focus your attention," Hiruzen addressed all three of the young men in the room. "Take the tests, and be sure to pass. Keep an eye out for Orochimaru or other potential threats, but do not engage."

Kotetsu and Izumo nodded, but Hiruzen saw Kaeru frown at him.

"Why not?" the young redhead demanded.

"The third test will also be when the most jounin and ANBU will be present," Hiruzen said in a calm voice that oozed authority. "I want as many allies as possible on call when Orochimaru makes his move."

"_Osso_." Kaeru touched his forehead in a brief salute.

Hiruzen gave a pointed look to Kotetsu and Izumo. Izumo immediately stopped slouching so blatantly and actually looked sheepish.

"You two know your mission," said the Hokage.

"_Hai_," they chorused.

Hiruzen nodded a final time.

"Good luck," he said.

"Thanks, O-jiji." Kaeru tossed a grin at Hiruzen before he turned and strode through the door.

Kotetsu and Izumo followed the boy without a further word, but Kotetsu did toss a meaningful look over his shoulder at the Hokage. Hiruzen felt his bottom jaw jut out as he tried not to purse his lips. He didn't quite like the situation, and he wasn't convinced that Kaeru would do nothing in the face of Orochimaru's invasion or appearance in the Forest of Death. He hoped Kotetsu and Izumo would keep the young man in line for the most part.

As much as Hiruzen believed Kaeru's tale and his listing of future events, Hiruzen couldn't afford to let Kaeru loose on the timeline. For one thing, the boy wasn't trained enough, and for another, Jiraiya still hadn't reported his final findings on Kaeru's seals, other than to say one thing:

The boy was a ticking time bomb.

* * *

Naruto strode up the stairs to the second floor of the Hokage Tower, feeling at least confident that he knew his way around. He had been in the Tower a few times already, mostly to talk to Hokage-jiji when he got in trouble. But, still, he felt qualified to be the one leading his team up the stairs. Naruto spotted the room right away and started for it — it was easy to identify since there was already a large crowd gathered in front of the door.

"Dobe," Sasuke suddenly called from behind him.

Naruto spun around, frowning when he saw that neither Sasuke nor Sakura were following him.

"What?" he demanded.

"Naruto, that's the wrong room." Sakura tentatively gestured up the stairs instead of jumping forward to join Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto glanced up at where he thought he was supposed to go. "But the form said room 301, and the fifth floor is O-jiji's office."

He knew that he was right about the Hokage's office, and he shot another look at the placard above the door that read "301."

"No, look." Sakura finally stood beside him and raised her own arm parallel to his. "They put a genjutsu on the door so it just looks like the right number."

Naruto dropped his arm and stared at the door. Now that Sakura's shoulder was pressing against his, he could see the haze over the label that made it seem more like a mirage than a real sign. He swallowed and tried to keep himself from hanging his head. Sasuke and Sakura would know he was an idiot if he did that.

"I knew that," he muttered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Right," drawled Sasuke sarcastically.

Naruto scowled and opened his mouth to shout at Sasuke. He wasn't an idiot, he was just bad at recognizing genjutsu.

"Please let us pass," a familiar voice called into the crowd in front of the second-floor door.

Distracted, Naruto turned around again to look back at the door. A boy with straight dark hair stood out in the crowd, positioned directly in front of a kid a little older than Naruto.

"Hey, that's Fuzzy Eyebrows." Naruto realized.

He hadn't seen Rock Lee since their joint mission to Hakui, and Naruto hadn't given the temporary teammates a whole lot of thought afterward. Besides, he had been a little distracted with trying to get Kaeru his present.

The kid in front of the fake door raised a fist and backhanded Lee across the cheek.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted with a glare toward the older kid.

"Naruto, wait!"

He felt Sakura's hand tighten on his shoulder, but he quickly shrugged it off and surged forward. For a brief moment, Naruto imagined socking the older kid in the jaw for daring to pick on someone who was both shorter than him and a much better comrade than the stupid kid obviously was.

"Naruto-kun!" Lee shouted from the floor.

Naruto froze and looked down. Lee grinned up at him as if he couldn't be happier to see Naruto, even through the bruise that was forming on the edge of his mouth. Naruto reached down with one hand to help him up.

"Hi, Fuzzy Eyebrows!" Naruto grinned back, just because. "You're here for the Exams, too?"

"Yes," Lee said immediately.

Naruto saw a couple other genin crowding up toward the kid who had hit Lee, so he didn't worry about bringing justice to the bully. Then, Neji came up behind Lee along with a kunoichi who wore her hair in two buns on the top of her head.

"Gai-sensei nominated our team to take the tests," Neji said.

Naruto still thought Neji sounded way too uptight.

"Kakashi-sensei did the same for us," Sakura said, nodding her head a little to be polite. "We were just about to go up to the right room."

"The right room?" Lee cocked his head curiously at Sakura.

From behind their group, Sasuke scoffed again.

"Of course," he said, "any idiot can see through that genjutsu."

Naruto scowled at the floor. If any idiot could see through the genjutsu, what was Sasuke saying that made Naruto?

"C'mon, Lee, we're going," Naruto commanded.

He grabbed Lee's wrist and pulled the other boy along until they reached the stairs. Sasuke could follow if he wanted, but Naruto wasn't going to turn around and face him. He _wasn't_ an idiot. And Sasuke was supposed to know that. He had been getting so much better at acknowledging Naruto during their training, and Naruto had beaten him in their points-game at least twice now.

Naruto finished climbing the stairs and strode up to the right room before he even lifted his head.

"Whoa," he murmured.

He hadn't expected _that_ many people. Naruto scanned the crowd vigorously and noted some forehead protectors with different symbols on them. Naruto wasn't even sure what all of them meant. Then, he saw another familiar face.

"Hey, it's Kiba!" Naruto stood up a little straighter and waved his hand over his head vigorously.

Kiba had always been good for a little jaunt outdoors when class at the Academy had gotten too boring. Naruto hadn't really seen him since graduation, although he knew who was on his team. Naruto jogged up to Kiba, who had Akamaru balanced on the top of his head, and glanced at the girl with short dark hair next to him.

"Hi, Hinata-chan," he greeted.

"H-h-hello." Her voice was barely a whisper, and Naruto had to lean in to hear her.

The weird kid with dark glasses and a high collar — Naruto thought it was Shino underneath all that — didn't say anything.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto looked behind him again and saw Sasuke struggling against a girl with long blonde hair. She clung to his arm while Sasuke was leaning as far away as he could, trying to pull away from her without actually touching her.

"Ino!" Sakura leaped at the blonde girl with her hands almost in claws. "Get off him, you pig!"

Naruto snickered to himself. Let Sasuke be uncomfortable for a while. Served him right for being such a jerk about the genjutsu.

"Troublesome," muttered a lazy voice to Naruto's side.

Naruto glanced to his right and saw his other class-skipping buddies, which made sense since he knew they were on a team with Ino.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Chouji." Naruto grinned at each of them.

"It looks like everyone's here," Chouji said as he surveyed the crowd.

"There are a lot of teams," agreed Kiba. "More than I thought there'd be."

Naruto followed Kiba's gaze to look around the room. The nine members of Naruto's graduating class weren't the only Konoha ninja present. Lee's team was still standing behind Sasuke and Sakura, and there were some older shinobi standing by the edge of the hallway. Naruto saw the team they had met just the other day — the rude kid that had slammed into him along with the creepy kid with the gourd on his back. There were still people coming up the stairs, too. Two older ninja with dark hair climbed the stairs and cast their eyes over the crowd, but Naruto was more interested in the shock of red hair that was following the two others.

"Kaeru-nii!" Naruto shouted and started jumping up and down, just to make sure Kaeru was sure to see him.

Kaeru's eyes turned to Naruto as soon as the boy shouted, and Naruto saw the wide smile that Kaeru gave him. Kaeru-nii muttered something to the two dark-haired ninja and then hurried forward to Naruto.

"Hey, gaki." Kaeru reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair quickly.

Naruto rubbed his palm over the top of his head to smooth out his hair again once Kaeru took his hand back, but he didn't say anything about the gesture.

"You didn't say you were gonna be here!" Naruto whined at his older cousin.

"Wanted to surprise you." Kaeru shrugged and slipped one hand into his pocket. Then he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the two shinobi who had come in with him. "These guys needed an extra teammate to take the Exams, so I got a chance with them."

Sakura strode up to stand beside Hinata as most of the crowd around Naruto started listening to Kaeru as well.

"Why did they need an extra teammate?" she asked.

"You can only enter the Exams in teams of three," answered Kaeru confidently. "The first two tests are meant for your team as a group before they test the individuals."

Naruto nodded sagely. He remembered Kaeru had said something like that when he had first explained about the Chuunin Exams. It wasn't just about getting stronger, it was about being a _team_.

"You seem to know exactly how the Exams progress."

Naruto glanced around to see who had spoken. Obviously, somebody was unaware that Kaeru-nii knew practically everything. Then, he saw an older genin with a Konoha hitai-ate walking up toward Kaeru. This new guy had silvery hair and round glasses, and he didn't look very interested in anything. Not like Shikamaru, who never looked like he was going to bother doing anything, or like Sasuke, who still looked like he was looking down his nose at Ino. The new guy just had that look as if he was forcing himself to be extra polite — like Naruto had seen storekeepers do when he was trying to buy something with other kids in the same store. Like they wanted to say something mean but weren't allowed to.

Kaeru buried both his hands in his pockets as his shoulders lifted into a shrug.

"Ah, I've done this before," he said as he rocked back on his heels. "Though I'm not as much as an expert as you, I hear. Aren't you the one that took the Chuunin Exams eighteen times?"

"This is my seventeenth attempt," said the guy with glasses.

Naruto crinkled his nose as he looked up at glasses-guy.

"Jeez, you must suck," he sighed.

"Naruto!"

"What?"

Naruto spun to face Sakura and planted his hands on his hips despite the way she was glaring at him for being rude.

"At least Kaeru-nii has an excuse;" Naruto said as he waved one hand at Kaeru. "He wasn't in the village, so he _couldn't_ take the Exams. But he's not that pathetic!"

Kaeru-nii had admitted that he had failed the last time he had taken the Chuunin Exams, but Kaeru had only taken them _once_, and he knew what he had done wrong. Naruto was sure that Kaeru wouldn't have to take the same Exams seventeen different times. Failing that many times was just pathetic, and Naruto had experience with that. He was never going to be that kind of loser again.

Then, before Sakura could really make a proper retort, the door to room 301 opened slowly to reveal a man in a jounin vest and a long, dark cloak. He wore his hitai-ate like a bandana around his head, and his face had scars criss-crossing every which way.

"Alright, you brats," announced the man. "Step forward if you want to be Chuunin."

* * *

Sakura bent over her paper and surveyed her answers. The test was difficult, but she knew that only because she hadn't had to think this hard over a simple sheet of paper since she had been in the Academy. Things like the physics and trajectory of a kunai throw or reciting the corollaries of obscure shinobi rules was something she was good at. She knew she could pass this test, and there was a chance Sasuke could as well.

But Sakura held no hope for Naruto.

She might have thought Naruto a hopeless case — he certainly had been in Academy with his antics and occasionally skipping class entirely. But Sakura had watched him on the mission to Wave and after. Once someone showed him how to do something or led him through an activity, Naruto picked things up fairly quickly. Kaeru often did that for him whenever the older shinobi dropped by Team Seven's training sessions.

Sakura glanced over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of where Kaeru sat in the back row. Strangely, she wanted Kaeru to pass the Exams as much as she wanted her own teammates to pass. Maybe it was because she had grown used to seeing him around her team. He really was the only direct connection that any of Team Seven had. Naruto had no parents — Sakura tried not to feel guilty about what she had said to Sasuke back when Naruto hadn't been on her team. Sasuke's family was dead. And Sakura's parents didn't really understand the shinobi world. She was the first in generations of Haruno to even enter the Academy, much less become a kunoichi.

But Kaeru-kun looked supremely calm in his seat. He wasn't even looking at his paper; instead his eyes scanned the room, occasionally pausing to look searchingly at others taking the test. Sakura saw him staring at the back of the Suna-nin's head, the young one with red hair like Kaeru. Then, Kaeru glanced away and met Sakura's eyes. His solemn face turned into a small smile as he winked at her.

Sakura blushed at getting caught not paying attention to the test and faced forward again, determined to get the highest score. Suddenly, a kunai sunk into the desk in front of Sakura with a solid thunk. She nearly jumped out of her seat, but at least she hadn't fallen straight on the floor like the boy whose desk now had a hole in it.

"That's three times," announced one of the proctors. "Get out."

Sakura's heart slowed down to its normal pace as the genin ground his teeth and stomped out of the room. She glanced at the proctors lining the wall, watching all the genin while their pens hovered above clipboards, waiting for them to screw up. It was like they were expecting everyone to cheat. Sakura huffed a bit. If they were going to make the test answers so hard, what did they expect, really? Suddenly, Sakura's eyes widened in her moment of enlightenment.

That was it, then. The point was to cheat and not get caught doing it. Sakura bit her lip and pinned the back of Naruto's head with an intense stare, wishing she could convey her thoughts to him through sheer force of will. If Naruto couldn't answer the test questions, he could at least get them by cheating.

* * *

Kaeru hadn't been this deep in nostalgia since he had first found himself wondering around a Konoha that was whole and unblemished, and running into old comrades that were much younger than they had any right to be. He never thought five years would make so much difference. But maybe it was more the experiences in those five years rather than the time itself.

Kaeru didn't pay much attention as Morino Ibiki rattled off a familiar speech about the importance of the tenth and final question of the written test. Knowing what was coming did have its benefits, Kaeru thought. There was no way he was stressed over this test when he knew that all he had to do was stick it out.

Though, maybe he should have cheated a bit just to prove he could.

While Ibiki scared off a few of the genin, Kaeru flipped over his paper and scratched his name at the top corner for identification. His pen scribbled quickly over the middle of the paper, in a large open area, before Kaeru realized that the only sound in the room was that of his pen across the paper.

Kaeru glanced up and saw Ibiki glaring right at him, along with both Kotetsu and Izumo's disguised forms.

"Sorry," muttered Kaeru as he dropped his pencil on the desk. "This pen isn't very good. I'm used to brushes."

"Would you like to reconsider sitting for the tenth question?" Ibiki growled.

Kaeru wondered for a moment if Ibiki was just playing a part or if he really hated Kaeru. Kaeru could understand if Ibiki did hate him, since the last time the jounin had seen him had been when Kaeru was tied up in the T&I department. Not quite the way to make a good first impression.

"Nah, I'm good." Kaeru sat up a little straighter and laced his fingers together behind his head. "You ain't that scary, Scarface."

Ibiki looked practically murderous, but Kaeru didn't really care. Sure, Ibiki was scary — especially to enemies of Konoha — but Kaeru had been face to face with demons, monsters, and megalomaniacs. Ibiki was not even on the totem.

Ibiki kept the hateful look on his face as he surveyed the room.

"This is your last chance," he announced. "If you fail here, you will never be allowed another chance to progress up the ranks."

A hand started to rise tremulously a few rows in front of Kaeru. He felt the smug look slide off his face as he watched Naruto push his hand higher in the air, hoping this was going how he remembered it.

Naruto's hand slammed down on the wood of the desk, echoing in the quiet of the room.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto shouted, indignant. "I don't quit and I don't run! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life. I'll still be Hokage someday!"

Kaeru smiled proudly. The first genin-Hokage. Who knew? It could happen.

Ibiki settled down as well, seeming to realize that no one else was walking out after that little speech.

"Very well," said Ibiki smugly. "Everyone remaining in the room . . . passes."

Various outbursts met that particular explanation, and Ibiki explained how the tenth question was meant to test resolve and how the entire test prior was a test of cheating skills.

"Of course," Naruto declared as he folded his arms over his chest. "It was so obvious."

Sakura huffed from behind him as one corner of Kaeru's mouth turned up. Naruto was indomitable, but he'd never see that for himself. It was one of the differences between Naruto and Kaeru. Even when presented with the opportunity to cheat — Kaeru still remembered how Hinata had offered her test to him five years ago — Naruto chose to forge his own path.

As much as Kaeru still appreciated creative solutions, he wasn't adverse to permanent ones as well. Kaeru knew before the Exams were over that he would have blood on his hands.

* * *

A/N: Well, this chapter was a bear to get out, no lie. I think it's because I realized halfway through it that the reason the original Chuunin Exams Arc is so long in the manga is because Kishimoto uses it as an opportunity to introduce practically every other secondary character that shows up for the rest of the first half of the series. Some are people we saw in the very first chapter at the Academy (or at least when the team divisions happen), but some (like Lee's team and the Sand sibs) are new characters for us.

So I didn't go through all the explanation of the Chuunin Exams. If you're reading Naruto fanfiction, I'll assume you know something of the original material.

Not much else to say. I'm just excited to have made it to the actual Chuunin Exams. And, of course, things are going to get heated once the second test comes up. Hee hee.

Fia


	25. Chapter 25

"What do you think of him?" Izumo whispered to his partner.

Izumo and Kotetsu hung back from the large group of genin standing just outside of Training Area 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. Their temporary teammate stood about four feet in front of them both, holding the marked scroll in one hand.

"Don't know," Kotetsu said shortly. "He hasn't done much of anything yet."

"Do you think Hokage-sama is right about him?"

Izumo didn't quite know what to make of Uzumaki Kaeru. He certainly hadn't heard much of the teenaged genin before the Hokage called Izumo and Kotetsu into his office with a mission. Uzumaki supposedly had information about a planned attack on Konoha coordinated around the Chuunin Exams. The attack featured one of the sannin, Orochimaru, rather predominantly. The Hokage had been quick to assure both Izumo and Kotetsu that Kaeru had been through Interrogation with the information and had passed all the tests thrown at him. On the surface, Izumo and Kotetsu had been partnered with Kaeru to lend him support as he combated potential threats to Konoha genin during the Exams.

In reality, the Hokage's words still rung through Izumo's mind every time he looked at Uzumaki Kaeru.

_"His mind is very heavy with the knowledge of what may come. I want you to make sure he stays in line with his orders."_

Having to watch a teammate for any missteps was putting Izumo on edge. He was glad that he and his teammates hadn't been expected to display their cheating skills in the last test. As far as Izumo knew, all the proctors knew about Izumo and Kotetsu's undercover mission. Ibiki probably would have encountered Kaeru already, since the kid had been forced through Interrogation. Heck, Kaeru might have even met Mitarashi Anko, who was currently explaining the rules of the second test to the genin. Kaeru, instead of paying a whole lot of attention to Anko, was scanning the crowd of genin. Part of Izumo kind of knew how the kid felt. Kotetsu was avoiding looking at Anko's outfit as well.

The Konoha teams far outnumbered any other country's kids in the Exams, Izumo noted as he followed Kaeru's gaze. But that wasn't unusual for the Chuunin Exams. Kumo wasn't going to send any young, vulnerable genin to Konoha after the Hyuuga incident; and Iwa sure as hell wasn't going to send anyone to Konoha since the war. Izumo was a little surprised there was a team from Ame in the Exams, seeing how badly that entire country had been ravaged in the last war.

Then, Kaeru's eyes fell on Hatake Kakashi's team as the boy in an orange outfit complained loudly about the time limit. Izumo tapped on Kotetsu's shoulder to get his partner's attention.

"Hey, if Kaeru's an Uzumaki," Izumo said, "ya think he's related to . . . y'know?"

Izumo jerked his head in an obvious gesture toward the loudmouth genin. As Kotetsu fixed his attention on the younger genin, Izumo looked back at Kaeru. The teenager had an amused smile on his face, but he didn't look like he was laughing at the younger boy. This was fond, the way an older brother would be with a younger.

"They got the same eyes and nose," Kotetsu finally said.

Izumo nodded thoughtfully. He didn't know a whole lot about the name Uzumaki. Just that it had once been a clan very closely allied with Konoha, and that it was the name of the kid that was the Kyuubi vessel now. Izumo knew the specific laws governing that situation: no one over a certain age was allowed to talk about the jinchuuriki, and absolutely no one was allowed to harm the jinchuuriki. Izumo himself didn't really have an opinion. The kid was loud and obnoxious, and not a very good shinobi. But Kaeru seemed to look at the kid like he was the best little brother since little brothers had been invented. It might have been possible that Kaeru knew nothing about the Kyuubi or the kid's relation to it, but that was pretty unlikely, especially if Kaeru really was an Uzumaki.

"You'll each be taken to a different entry point in the forest, so you won't all start out in the same place," Anko was saying when Izumo thought to pay attention like he was supposed to.

A chuunin, Izumo thought he recognized him as a Hyuuga, gestured for Izumo's team to follow him to a point at the edge of the forest about one hundred yards to the east of Anko's position. The closest team was the Ino-Shika-Chou to Izumo's right. Kotetsu glanced at their temporary teammate, who was scanning the large trees in front of the three of them with a frown.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Kaeru tilted his head to look at Kotetsu while Izumo watched the teenager's expression closely. He already thought Kaeru was weird, and he wanted to make sure this mission went off without any incident.

"I remember the trees being a lot taller," said Kaeru.

Scratch the weird. Kaeru was downright _bizarre_. Izumo shot a puzzled look at his partner behind Kaeru's back, but Kotetsu just shrugged quickly and looked back at Kaeru.

"I didn't know you were here before," Kotetsu prodded.

Kaeru raised one hand and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ah, well," he began slowly, "I was younger."

"Ready?" The chuunin glanced at a stopwatch in his hand, obviously used to coordinate the test. "Begin."

At his sharp command, Kaeru tensed and then leaped into the forest, heading straight for the dense branches instead of running along the forest floor. Kotetsu and Izumo both followed by a half a second, even as Izumo wondered where the heck the Hokage had found this kid.

* * *

Kaeru paused on a branch when he noticed his teammates halt halfway into the forest. That had been a pretty stupid slip outside of the Forest of Death; Kotetsu and Izumo obviously didn't know anything about Kaeru's background, including what he had told Hokage-jiji. Kaeru _had_ to learn to keep his mouth shut.

Kotetsu and Izumo landed next to him on a large branch and looked at him expectantly. Kaeru didn't know a whole lot about the two jounin — he suspected Kakashi might, but that wouldn't help him now — but he trusted them to have the same goal as he did: protect Konoha from Orochimaru. In the meantime, he was still in the middle of an exam.

"So, I guess we actually need both scrolls to get to the next round." Kaeru glanced between the two jounin for confirmation.

Kotetsu shrugged carelessly.

"Hey, _we're_ the only ones here pretending to be genin." His mouth twitched like he was trying very hard not to smile at Kaeru.

"Right." That was _so_ not a pout on Kaeru's face.

Terms like genin and chuunin didn't really mean much to Kaeru anyway, not when he knew how strong he had been after training on Mount Myobokuzan and then afterward, when the seals on his arms brought him back down to the level Naruto currently was: unable to do much more than Kage Bunshin and nothing above C-ranked jutsu.

But at least he had some tools at his disposal. Kaeru manipulated his fingers into a simple seal and sent the three copies of himself in three different directions.

"My clones can scope out the area, see what teams are around us," he explained to Kotetsu and Izumo.

That would at least give him a sense of what his surroundings were so he wasn't working blind. Kaeru remembered enough of when Kotetsu and Izumo worked with Shikamaru and then Kakashi's team against the Akatsuki to know that both of them were more combat-oriented than scouting and spying types.

Kaeru's right arm started to tingle, as if the nerves had fallen asleep. He grit his teeth and curled and uncurled his fingers quickly, just to check that everything was working.

"Are your arms okay?" Kotetsu asked suddenly.

Kaeru jerked his head up from studying his arm and noticed both Kotetsu and Izumo studying his forearms carefully. Kaeru still had both his arms wrapped to the elbows in bandages, like they had been on the mission to Hakui. He didn't actually need them, since the senbon wounds had healed quickly, but it was more comfortable than his long-sleeved shirt, and it did the job of covering the seals on his arms.

"Yeah, just some scratches from my last mission," Kaeru answered as he shrugged deliberately, lowering his arms to hang at his sides. "They're fine."

Kotetsu nodded, apparently accepting Kaeru's explanation.

"I saw one genin team enter the forest about a hundred yards that way," Izumo offered with a wave of his hand.

"Yeah, but I don't really want to sabotage another Konoha team, y'know?" Kaeru recognized who the jounin was talking about. "Besides, that's Shikamaru's team."

"So?" Izumo demanded.

Kaeru almost rolled his eyes at the thought that Izumo, of all people, should _know_ what Shikamaru was capable of. But then, that wasn't right quite yet because Shikamaru was still a genin and neither Kotetsu nor Izumo had worked with him yet. Kaeru huffed out a sigh and tried to explain Shikamaru.

"So, he may be lazy, but if Ino convinces him to actually fight he'd knock us all out," Kaeru said.

"How do you know?" Kotetsu asked suddenly.

Behind tightly closed lips, Kaeru ground his teeth together to keep his first thoughts from spilling out of his mouth. That brief time of searching for Akatsuki team members with his comrades in Konoha was almost the best time in the last five years of his life. He had the respect of his classmates, as well as some of the jounin he worked with. His village had still been standing and strong — before the attack by the leader of the Akatsuki — and he had finally figured out how to complete his father's jutsu: the Rasenshuriken. Now it was far out of his reach.

Kaeru lifted one shoulder in a shrug as he forced an uncaring expression on his face for the benefit of his temporary teammates.

"He was in Naruto's class," he answered. "I've heard a lot of stories about the Nara genius."

That seemed like an acceptable answer. At least Izumo nodded at it, and Kotetsu tilted his head in the direction of Shikamaru's team, but he didn't do anything else. Kaeru squeezed his right hand into a fist and shook it out again. He had to concentrate if he was going to get through this Forest. Suddenly, his eyes widened with brand new knowledge. Kaeru shot a sly smile over his right shoulder, toward the northeast.

"Hey, I found a team from Oto." Kaeru turned his grin on Kotetsu and Izumo. "That sound good to you?"

He really hoped it would be. There was a chance that Kotetsu and Izumo wouldn't want to tangle with a team they knew was under Orochimaru's jurisdiction, but as far as Kaeru knew, Orochimaru didn't care a whit about his genin. He was too focused on getting the Sharingan for himself.

Luckily, Kotetsu nodded thoughtfully and toyed with the holster on his thigh that held most of his weapons.

"All right," he agreed. "Why don't you take the lead on this?"

"Really?" Kaeru hadn't really expected it to be that easy.

"You're the genin," Izumo said with a shrug.

Kaeru shot him a look but stopped just short at sticking out his tongue at the jounin.

"What's your plan of attack?" Kotetsu said.

Kaeru pursed his lips together and thought. This wasn't someone asking him to go up against a god or facing down a madman with too much power, so any of his old and standard plans went out the window. This was just facing down a trio of genin. He didn't even have to kill them, just incapacitate. What were these kids' skills anyway? He hadn't paid much attention to the fights in the original Chuunin Exams that didn't have to do with his teammates. Shikamaru had faced off against the girl; he remembered that much. And the big guy with bandages around his face had nearly blown out Lee's eardrums, but Kaeru only knew that secondhand.

Then, an idea started to percolate in Kaeru's mind. Not for nothing had he once been known as Konoha's greatest prankster.

"Lemme see the scroll?" He held one open hand out to Izumo hopefully.

The short scroll Izumo handed over had the kanji for "heaven" on it, but other than that it looked like a standard scroll available to anyone chuunin and above. Kaeru himself had a couple in his pack for his own scrolls. He started to grin in anticipation as his hand dove into his pack and withdrew a scroll the same shape and size as the one in his hand.

"Okay, this is the hook."

* * *

"What do you mean, you need a break?"

Naruto ducked his head sheepishly at Sasuke's obvious anger. It wasn't his fault how his nerves decided to express themselves.

"Would you relax?" Naruto grumbled back at his teammate. "I'll just pop in the bushes and be done in a second."

"Naruto!" cried Sakura. "That's disgusting."

"What?" Where else was he supposed to take a bathroom break when there was no bathroom?

Sasuke heaved a sigh as if he couldn't believe he was stuck with Naruto and Sakura. Naruto wrinkled his nose at Sasuke but didn't say anything.

"We can't afford to wait for you, dobe," Sasuke said finally. "The test is timed, and we haven't run into any other teams yet."

"No problem!" Naruto already had a solution for that.

In one poof of smoke, Naruto suddenly had a twin looking at Sakura and Sasuke.

"You guys can take a clone with you," Naruto explained. "When I'm done, I'll release the jutsu, and I'll know right where you are."

Since Sasuke was twisting his lips instead of calling his teammate an idiot, Naruto figured that was as good as a yes from the bastard. It wasn't really like Naruto could help his situation, anyway.

"Don't be too long," Sasuke finally commanded.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke on principle — he couldn't just let Sasuke think he wasn't taking this test seriously — but he turned and hurried into the undergrowth of the forest as he heard three sets of footsteps take off into the trees.

Taking care of his business as quickly as possible, Naruto jerked back onto the animal path as he zipped his pants again. Before he could do anything more, though, he heard a crunch of branches and leaves, like someone very large was walking through the forest. Naruto studied his surroundings carefully. That crazy lady-proctor _had_ said something about the dangers of the forest, crazy animals and poisonous plants and such. Naruto looked down at the packed earth beneath his feet and wondered what kind of animal would make a trail like the one he stood on. It looked too narrow for something like a deer.

Suddenly, a sinuous body slammed through the underbrush and snapped towards Naruto. Naruto tried to jump out of the way and tripped backwards instead when his heel caught on a branch at the edge of the path. He lost his breath only in the time it took him to get his hands under him while he kept facing the giant creature.

"Snake!" he cried, scrambling backwards like a crab. "Giant snake!"

Naruto's yells didn't do anything as the snake's head sailed where he had just been standing. The giant head gave a little jerk and then remained perfectly still while the sideways eyes fixed onto Naruto. Naruto pushed himself to his feet and gave one huge leap to get out of the line of sight.

He felt and heard the snake's lunge for him as Naruto sailed into the tree branches. He bounced around between three trees in a manner that was more distraction than anything. It usually worked when Naruto had still had the time to run away from shinobi who chased him after one of his pranks.

Naruto launched into a somersault and landed on the forest floor, darting behind a large trunk. He tried to catch what was left of his breath silently, which made it really hard to get in all the oxygen his lungs seemed to think he needed. But he didn't want to attract any more attention. No one had shown up after his yells, which meant that Sasuke and Sakura-chan were probably already too far away to hear him. Naruto supposed that was good in a way. At least they weren't going to meet a giant snake. You'd think that would be something the proctor should have mentioned. None of this _you-must-sign-forms-because-you-could-possibly-die_ crap; that was way too vague.

Naruto opened his mouth and drew in a deep breath, feeling confident in his ability to keep his limbs steady now. All he had to do was dispel his clone and find out where his teammates were.

Suddenly, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Naruto turned just in time to see a cave of pink flesh; a cave framed by long fangs and moving quickly toward him.

"Waagh—"

* * *

Sasuke planted his feet on a large tree branch and looked over at where Naruto's figure had frozen mere feet away.

"What?" Sasuke snapped.

The clone lifted one hand and scratched at his temple, just under the hitai-ate.

"Something feels weird," Naruto's clone said.

Sasuke wrinkled his nose at the first explanation that popped into his head.

"If you say you need to stop for a bathroom break just because Naruto—"

"That's not it!"

It was a little weird conversing with Naruto's clone and having the figure respond just like Naruto would. Sasuke was familiar with the technique only because Naruto used it almost every time the two of them sparred — at least when they agreed that ninjutsu was permitted. Some of the time they just stuck with taijutsu.

Sakura landed next to Sasuke and took a few deep breaths as she glanced between Sasuke and Naruto.

"Maybe something's wrong with Boss," said the clone.

Sasuke was vaguely aware of the memory transference that occurred in Kage Bunshin, but he didn't think the knowledge passed the opposite way. How was the clone supposed to know when its creator was in danger?

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered suddenly.

Sakura's tone — urgent and wary — made Sasuke pay attention where normally the suffix alone would encourage him to ignore Sakura. But he followed her eyes to his right, almost opposite of the large tree where his team had paused. A young man stood on another branch, close to the large, thick trunk. The genin had the symbol for Kusa, Grass Country, on his forehead, but he looked older than Sasuke. Maybe Kaeru's age.

"Well, well." The Kusa-nin smiled widely, his lips stretching into a sly, pleased grin. "Look what I've stumbled upon."

Sasuke barely registered his own movements until he realized that he was in front of Sakura, standing between her and the newcomer.

"It's one against three, you bastard," Naruto called from just behind Sasuke.

The Kusa-nin's eyes rolled lazily to gaze just over Sasuke's shoulder.

"Oh, I hardly think you count," said the foreign genin.

Sasuke saw the new guy's arm snap upward and reached behind himself a bit to grab onto Sakura's wrist. He dragged his teammate behind him as he jumped off the branch to avoid the attack he knew would be coming. Releasing his brief hold on Sakura's wrist, Sasuke landed on a large branch just below where they had been standing. Sasuke jerked his head up to make sure Naruto had gotten out of the way as well. But the Kusa-nin seemed to be concentrating on Naruto more than either Sasuke or Sakura. Naruto hopped from branch to branch like a cricket, trying to avoid all the senbon flying toward him.

"What's with all the needles, yarou!" Naruto yelled as he swung around the trunk of a younger tree.

When Naruto reappeared around the trunk, his eyes widened suddenly as one of the thin wooden weapons caught him right in the stomach. Sasuke leaned forward, almost ready to leave Sakura behind so he could catch Naruto when he fell. But then Naruto's body disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a haze of used-up chakra.

Sasuke ducked his head and hoped no one had seen his momentary panic. He had forgotten that Naruto wasn't even real. The real Naruto was probably still constipated somewhere.

"Much better," the Kusa-nin said in an oily voice. "Now to take care of the small fry."

The Kusa-nin turned his attention onto Sasuke and Sakura, looking down his long nose at the younger genin. Sasuke stood up straighter and reached for his shuriken holster. If this guy favored senbon like Hake had, Sasuke could use his Sharingan—

Suddenly, Sasuke felt a horrendous pressure in the center of his chest. He could feel blood running down his face, but the Kusa-nin hadn't done anything to him yet. Worse, Sasuke couldn't even find the strength to move. His heart was going three times its normal speed, and he was paralyzed — his muscles seized up, and he only knew that he was going to die.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke could see Sakura's body, pale and trembling but wide-eyed and frozen in her place beside him. She was apparently trapped the same way as he was, but Sasuke knew they weren't in a genjutsu. His eyes were good enough already to at least tell if there was a genjutsu present. He had felt this once before, on the way to Nami. _Killing intent_. He forced his hand to move, inch by inch, until he felt his fingers wrap around the solid, cool metal of a kunai.

"Ugh." Sasuke groaned as the world snapped back into focus.

"Oh, how marvelous."

Sasuke barely heard the Kusa-nin crooning above him as he withdrew the point of his kunai from his thigh. The open wound throbbed with every pulse of his heart, but it was at least more real than the nightmare world that the _sakki_ had him under. Shifting, Sasuke positioned himself in front of Sakura so that he blocked the Kusa-nin's view of her. The Kusa-nin didn't seem to care.

"What splendid prey you're turning out to be." The genin smiled proudly down at Sasuke.

Sasuke clambered to his feet and pulled out the Heaven scroll his team was in charge of.

"Here." He held the scroll level with his head so that he was sure the Kusa-nin could see it. "Just take our scroll and go. We won't fight you."

Sasuke really doubted he could, anyway. Naruto wasn't here, and Sakura would be no help in her current state. The scroll wasn't worth Sasuke's life. It just meant that he and his team would have to work twice as hard to get both the scrolls they needed before the five days were up.

"Clever." The Kusa-nin smiled with his lips pressed tightly together. "You must know the only chance to get away from a predator is to offer up more interesting prey."

Sasuke wasn't very fond of this guy's penchant for referring to everything as prey and predator. They were ninja, not stupid animals.

"But I'm not interested in the scroll." The older genin abruptly stopped smiling. "I came for you, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he took in the sudden change in the Kusa-nin's eyes. For a moment, they looked feral; yellow irises with slit pupils like a snake's. A rain of senbon sailed toward Sasuke, and he launched himself backwards, catching Sakura around the waist so he could drag her back to safety. It seemed like it wouldn't matter if Sasuke thought he couldn't fight against the older genin. He would have to anyway.

Sasuke propped Sakura, who was still pale and shaky, against the trunk of the tree while he took off around the large trunk to face the Kusa-nin again. He already knew that he had a dozen shuriken, ten kunai, and a spool of ninja wire in his pouch. That ninja wire could possibly be useful. Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He refused to die here.

Sasuke snapped his eyes open and saw _everything_.

* * *

Doku glared at Kin for a long moment. It had been her idea to take a break, even though it was still the first day of the test.

"We're going," Doku announced.

Suddenly, a tall figure appeared in the clearing just in front of Doku's team.

"Hey, kids," the newcomer called jovially.

Doku didn't know why the guy was so happy, since the _hitai-ate_ just under his red hair clearly displayed his allegiance to Konoha.

"Who're you?" Doku demanded. He saw Zaku crouch down and spread his arms in anticipation of a fight.

"Relax." The Konoha genin held up his hands in a pose of surrender. "My name's Uzumaki. I got separated from my team. Ya seen any Konoha genin around?"

"Just you," said Doku.

"Which means you're out-numbered," Zaku added with his wild grin.

"Not really," replied the Konoha-nin.

Doku's eyes widened as he watched three more figures, identical to the teenage redhead in front of him, pop out of the underbrush behind the Konoha-nin. They were clones, obviously, but one had his arm slung around another, which meant they were solid. Likely elemental clones, harder to dispel and useful for much more than the diversionary tactics normal Bunshins were used for.

"Hey, look." The Konoha-nin held up his hands again. "I don't really want to fight if I don't have to."

"Why not?" demanded Kin suspiciously.

The Konoha-nin just shrugged, as if explaining would be a bother.

"I've done this before," he said. "So I know that next they'll have us go through individual fights. I don't want to waste my energy fighting you, so I have a proposal."

Negotiating from a Konoha shinobi? Doku supposed that it wasn't unheard of. Everyone in Otogakure said Konoha shinobi were peace-loving fools who didn't have the guts to take on the heavier subjects, like Mist did.

"What?" Doku asked, his curiosity peaked.

The redhead reached into his pack slowly and withdrew a small scroll, sealed and edged in black on both ends. He held the label out so that Doku could see the label of "Heaven" in the center of the scroll.

"We both have a scroll, right?" began Uzumaki. "So how 'bout we each look in our scrolls so that we can make a copy to present at the Tower. That way we both get through the test."

Beneath the bandages that covered his mouth and chin, Doku smirked. Everyone was apparently right. Konoha shinobi were a bunch of pansies.

"I got a better idea," he said confidently. "We take your scroll, and then _we'll_ get through the test and you can rot in this damn forest."

Behind his back, Doku made a sharp movement with one hand, signaling a chance to attack. As Zaku jumped forward, Kin released the razor-thin strings her bells were attached to. The bells wrapped around one of the clones at Uzumaki's side and dispelled it as the wire cut into the fake flesh. Zaku took down the other clone, and Doku powered up the amplifiers on his arm and charged the main opponent: Uzumaki himself.

The older ninja dodged away from the blow, but Doku's amplifiers ensured that even a glancing blow would allow the sound waves to cause their damage. Sure enough, a moment later, Uzumaki stumbled backward with one hand raised to cover his left ear. Doku seized the opportunity and swung his other arm in a wide sweep that ended in a hit to Uzumaki's soft midsection. Uzumaki groaned and fell to his knees, his arms wrapped around his stomach. Blood oozed slowly from his ear.

"Well, it seems you weren't quite up to the fight, after all," Doku crooned as he stood in front of the kneeling Konoha genin.

Kin and Zaku strode up to stand on either side of Doku while Uzumaki pulled together just enough strength to glare up at Doku. Kin reached down and plucked the scroll from Uzumaki's pack, studying it for a moment to be sure of the symbol.

"It's the right one," she said. "Our mission's done. We can head for the tower."

Zaku suddenly grabbed the scroll from her hands.

"C'mon," he whined. "I wanted to see that kid Orochimaru-sama is so crazy about. What's so special about a damn Uchiha?"

"Give that back!" Kin reached for the scroll, but Zaku danced out of her reach with a wide grin.

"Hey, you think he was telling the truth about copying the scroll?" Zaku asked suddenly.

Doku tried not to roll his eyes too much.

"Obviously, he was just trying to get out of an actual fight," he said. "You saw how easily he went down."

"_Oi_, I'm right here," grumbled Uzumaki.

Zaku slid his thumb under the edge of the scroll, peeling off the symbol that held the paper shut.

"Maybe we can report this to someone else," mused Zaku, "like Yakushi-san."

Doku growled from beneath his bandages.

"That double-crosser can find his own way through the test if Orochimaru-sama wants him to," he said.

Zaku didn't pay much attention to Doku as he starting to lift the paper away from the tightly-rolled scroll. Kin craned her neck closer to Zaku, trying to read over his shoulder in curiosity. Doku glanced back at their opponent to make sure the Konoha-nin was staying down. Then, he saw one corner of Uzumaki's mouth turn up in a very sly, secretive smirk. Doku spun around to his teammates.

"No, don't!"

The cry was too late as Zaku pulled the scroll open with a jerk. A flash of light made Doku throw up his arms to protect his face, and he felt hurried movement coming from the Konoha-nin on his knees. When the light faded, Doku lowered his arms and blinked again to clear his vision. Uzumaki had disappeared, and both Zaku and Kin stood frozen in their positions, like they couldn't move. A large circle covered the ground surrounding them, but Doku couldn't make out the symbols that decorated the circumference.

"Ha, ha!" cried a triumphant voice. "I did it! I did it!"

Doku looked up and saw Uzumaki standing confidently on a low-hanging tree branch. The blood from his ear had slowed to almost nothing, and he wasn't acting as if his stomach was hurt at all.

"I knew I could figure that seal out!" Uzumaki shouted.

"You said you were sure it would work," grumbled a new voice.

Doku's head snapped to his right, where another Konoha-nin, almost the same age as Uzumaki, stood on the trunk of another tree.

"I was," Uzumaki protested. "At least I was sure it was gonna do _something_."

"You should've told us."

A third voice now; apparently Uzumaki's team wasn't as separated as Doku had thought. Doku glared at the redhead as the older boy just shrugged.

"This whole setup was meant as a trap," Doku hissed in realization.

Uzumaki grinned and held up a finger triumphantly.

"Point for the Oto-nin!" he cried.

His fingers then came together in the same seal Doku had seen him make before. Suddenly, there were 12 identical figures dotting the ground and the trees surrounding Doku, standing between him and his trapped teammates.

"Told ya I don't need to waste my energy fighting you." Uzumaki's grin looked almost as evil and bloodthirsty as Orochimaru-sama's could.

* * *

Naruto pushed against the warm, slimy flesh pinning him in.

"Let me out, ya stupid snake," he hissed through his teeth.

He would've screamed at the giant animal, but he was surrounded by slime and trapped in a pitch-black tunnel that pressed in on him. There was some kind of liquid splashing at his stomach, but Naruto didn't really want to think about what that could be. He balled his fists and tried to maneuver his arm around for an elbow slam instead, since he didn't have enough room to punch his way out.

Suddenly, large trees and branches flashed in front of Naruto's eyes. He even thought he saw Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, but then the scene disappeared and he was surrounded by a darkness that seemed to squeeze the breath out of him. Naruto blinked and tried to find a light before he realized that what he had seen was actually happening. It was just happening somewhere else. His body froze as his brain took a moment to process the memories that were both his and not quite his. He saw Sasuke and Sakura both fighting some tall, creepy guy that was definitely not from Konoha.

His teammates were in trouble.

Naruto straightened both arms and slammed his palms against the wall of flesh in front of him.

"Get me frikkin' outa here!" he cried. "Last chance, snake! You're gonna be sorry!"

Something soft and warm hit him in the face, and Naruto immediately pressed his lips closed as he recoiled as best he could in the limited space he had. He had to find a way to escape before he got turned into snake juice and his teammates got hurt.

Then, Naruto thought of the mission to Wave and of Kaeru sitting on top of a still lake, trapped inside a prison made of water. Kaeru had said that he cut his way out, that Wind chakra was really good at cutting. Naruto hadn't really had time yet to do the training that Kaeru had promised him, but if he kept his eyes closed, he could clearly picture the tiny swirl that Kaeru had painted on the palm of his hand. Kaeru had said to concentrate on channeling charka to that point as part of Naruto's training. Surely, Naruto could take it from there.

With his palms resting on the walls of the snake's stomach, Naruto closed his eyes in the darkness and pushed all the chakra he could to his hands. He thought about the inked, black swirl on his skin and how it was kind of like seeing the black seals on Kaeru's arms and hands. Naruto's hands started to grow warm.

Suddenly, the wall gave way, and Naruto tumbled forward into the bright light of the open forest. A squelching sound followed after him, and he opened his eyes just in time to catch the puff of smoke that replaced the snake as it disappeared like one of Naruto's clones. But Naruto still saw the slash that cut right through the snake's belly. He had done that himself.

But there was no time to feel proud of himself. Naruto shoved himself to his feet and quickly shook his head to try and get ride of the slimy stuff in his hair. He still smelled like the inside of a snake. But that didn't matter. Sasuke and Sakura were still in trouble, and Naruto had to get to them.

* * *

"It's always the stomach."

Kaeru tentatively rubbed his hand across his stomach, dispelling the phantom pains. It was probably a good thing that only one of his clones had taken the hit to the gut before the battle was all said and done.

"I gotta get some Akimichi armor or something," muttered Kaeru.

"That would pretty much look ridiculous," said Kotetsu. "You don't have the body for it."

Kotetsu seemed pretty laidback for the first time since entering the forest, but Kaeru thought they had a good reason, seeing as two of the Oto-nin were still frozen within his seal. The only remaining one — the guy with bandages around nearly his whole face — went down pretty easy for Kaeru's clones. Except for that one lucky blow.

"But they always go for my stomach," he whined.

"Then you should know when to block, shouldn't you?" said Izumo from Kaeru's other side.

"Nyah." Kaeru turned and stuck his tongue out at Izumo, just because he couldn't quite let that go without doing _something_.

In truth, the hit hadn't hurt that much at all. Whatever pain his clone had felt should have dissipated as soon as the Kage Bunshin had disappeared. But his stomach was still hurting. As Kaeru lowered his hand deliberately — Izumo was starting to stare like he expected to see Kaeru sprout a wound — Kaeru knew this wasn't just leftover pain from his clones.

His seals were hurting.

He should've guessed this would happen since his very fingertips had tingled after he performed the Rasengan in front of Neji. But if even clones were too much for him, he was very soon going to be in very serious trouble.

"Well, what now?" Kotetsu asked as he stretched his arms over his head.

"Hey, I got the scroll," complained Kaeru. "How 'bout you guys take it from here."

Kaeru placed one hand on the back of his head and rolled his eyes so that his head rolled back on his shoulders. A sudden movement on the ground caught his eye, and he snapped his head to the side, worried that one of the Oto-nin might have escaped his seal. But it was just a snake slithering through the grass under the tree. Kaeru dropped his hand slowly as he stared after the snake.

"—as long as we do that, we'll be good," Izumo was saying.

"Hey." Kotetsu nudged Kaeru on the shoulder. "Dispel your clones. We won't need the extra attention while we're traveling."

Kaeru stared at his two teammates while he processed their words. That's right, they were going to the tower in the middle of the Forest now that they had both the scrolls. He wasn't supposed to get involved in any extra fights this time.

Well, screw that.

"Sure." Kaeru grinned widely and hoped his devious plan didn't show through his smile.

One Kawarimi Jutsu later and Kaeru stood in place of one of his clones on the forest floor. Quickly, he cancelled out the Kage Bunshin Jutsu and made sure to include a cloud of smoke around himself before performing a Shunshin. Kotetsu and Izumo were leading a shadow clone away from the battlefield and toward the tower as Kaeru, cloaked by the dense leaves of the canopy, watched just long enough to make sure they didn't suspect anything.

Then, Kaeru turned and took off, searching for any sign of a too-creepy ninja with a fixation on Uchiha eyes.

* * *

A/N: What's this? I'm alive? * surreptitiously checks surroundings* Yep, I seem to be alive. Shocking, I know.

I do apologize for my lack of updates in the past *mumbles* months. I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year (or was it last year by now), and then Real Life decided to kick my butt. I've even fallen behind on the manga reading.

Although considering how long the final battle is taking, I'm not that worried about the Naruto manga.

Thanks for stickin' with me!

Fia


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